Twisted Redemption
by EvenAngelsFall22
Summary: “What’s worse,” he asked indifferently. “The sins we’ve committed or the lengths we’ve taken to absolve ourselves from them?“ Journey. Alternate Universe.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Twisted Redemption

Summary: "What's worse," he asked indifferently. "The sins we've committed or the lengths we've taken to absolve ourselves from them?" Journey. Alternate Universe.

Author's note: Take everything you know about General Hospital and forget it. It's not going to help you here and really, it will only confuse you. The characters you see are not really as you know them, and I've taken the liberty of creating a few of my own as well. I got the idea from watching old tapes of _Guiding Light_ actually, from 1998 and 1999. This is based loosely around what happened there, so if it seems familiar to anyone, that's why. It's another variation on how Jason and Courtney end up together, though I'm not sure I've seen this one done before. Just to clear things up before I get started, there's a few things you need to know: Courtney and Carly are friends, but they don't know Sonny and Jason, and Sonny and Courtney aren't related.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

Feedback is never required but always appreciated!

* * *

"Courtney!" Carly's whisper was sharp as she elbowed her best friend. "Courtney look!"

Courtney shot her an evil glare before turning her eyes to the left. Her throat went dry and she forgot about the pain in her side as she took in the man standing at the foot of the stairs. She didn't blink as Carly grabbed her arm and pulled her into the storeroom and locked the door.

"That was him right?" Carly began pacing back and forth. "I mean, my eyes aren't playing tricks on me, are they? That is Jason Morgan out there."

"Of course it's him Carly," Courtney snapped. "Ever since Bobby Corinthos went missing all we've heard is _wait until Jason Morgan comes to town._ Hell, you even said it yourself! Great." She sighed and closed her eyes. "Well, here he is Carly. Standing in the middle of your club. Do you think that's a coincidence? Do you? Because I don't think it is. No, scratch that. I _know _it's not. He is standing out there looking around and he only has one reason to be here. He's here for us."

* * *

_Two weeks earlier…_

_It was cold as Courtney searched the shoreline for her best friend, mentally cursing her for waking her up in the middle of the night and begging her to meet her at the beach. She didn't go into details, only saying it was an emergency, although with Carly, an emergency could be something as trivial as a lost swimsuit top as a result of a midnight swim._

_Finally she spotted Carly's figure a few yards down the beach and it was clear from her posture that something really was wrong. She quickened her pace, jogging the rest of the way over._

"_Carly? Carly what happened?" Courtney knelt down next to her and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. Carly was sitting with her knees pressed to her chest, arms wrapped around them and rocking back and forth slightly . "Carly, come on, talk to me."_

_Carly finally looked up, her dull eyes meeting Courtney's worried ones. "I couldn't let him rape me," she said finally. "I wouldn't let him."_

"_Who Carly? Who tried to hurt you." Courtney watched as her eyes moved past her and she turned her head in the same direction. "Oh God Carly." She crawled a few feet over and turned over the unconscious form. "It's Bobby."_

"_He was going to hurt me," Carly whimpered. "He tried, I fought back, I found a rock, I hit him hard…on the head… he fell back and he didn't move. That's when I called you."_

"_Okay Carly. It's okay." Courtney moved her hand to Bobby's neck, searching for a pulse. It was there. It was faint, but it was still there. "He's still alive," she said, turning back to Carly. She thought for a moment. Carly, though strong in her own right, was not much help in a situation like this. "I'll stay here, you go get AJ," she said finally. AJ was her boyfriend, he'd know what they should do next._

"_Leave? Court, what if he wakes up?"_

"_He won't. You hit him pretty hard. Here." She pressed the keys to her car into Carly's hand. "Hurry up, go. I'll be okay." She watched as Carly ran back towards the car and smiled reassuringly when she turned and looked back. "I'll be fine!" she called after her. Her eyes swung back down to the unconscious man in front of her. "Damn it Bobby, why couldn't you just go away?"_

* * *

"He is not here for us!" Carly whispered, her eyes flashing. "There's no way. Only three people know about that night and two of them are standing in this room!"

"That we know of!" Courtney shot back. She pressed her hands to her face and sighed. "We're so dead."

"We are not dead. We didn't kill him."

"Of course we did!"

"No!" It was Carly who snapped this time. "As far as we know, someone else came along that night. It's possible, I mean, Bobby wasn't exactly a great guy, I'm sure there are at least a dozen other people who wanted him dead as well."

"You keep telling yourself that Carly," Courtney said bitterly. "Maybe one day you'll actually believe it."

"Okay stop!" Carly held her hands up in the air. "Fighting about this isn't going to help now. What we need to do is relax. We need to be completely calm when we get out there. I mean seriously, what did we expect? Bobby worked here before I fired him. Of course Jason Morgan was going to show up in my club sooner than later, I'm surprised it took him this long."

"That's true," Courtney conceded. "The cops know this was the last place Bobby was seen for sure."

"Right, so he's probably here just to check the place out," Carly added. She twisted her hands together and looked at the door. "I guess we should get back out there, huh? I mean, he's probably going to want to talk to me at least."

"You're right," Courtney agreed. "Carly, just promise me you'll stay calm, seriously okay? The second you start babbling it's over, he'll know something's up."

"I can stay calm!" She rolled her eyes at the look on Courtney's face. "I can! Besides, even if we were the ones that killed Bobby, I wasn't the one that hit him the second time."

"Carly!"

"I'm kidding!" Carly linked her arm through Courtney's. "Trust me, I'm not going to turn on you. We're in this together."

Courtney only shook her head as they walked back out into the club. Carly's words did little to reassure her, and she would never put it past her to confess everything to this Jason Morgan, especially to save herself.

It was an odd friendship that they had, Courtney reflected, as they separated. She sat back down at her table and listened as Carly greeted Jason brightly and loudly.

They had met the year before, in a human sexuality class at Port Charles University. Courtney would have rather been anywhere else, but as a psychology major she needed to take the class and wanted to get it out of the way sooner than later. On the second day of class this gorgeous, confident, and overly hyper girl who was taking the class "just for fun" sat down next to her and asked her if she thought she would have a shot at sleeping with the professor. It was the first conversation Courtney and Carly Robertshad shared and despite Courtney's shock at the topic at hand, over the course of the class they had become friends.

Being friends with Carly was a double-edged sword though, Courtney had soon realized. Sure she was fun to be around, she owned her own club so there was always a place to hang out, and she was fiercely protective of her friends. The minute it stopped benefiting her though, Carly wouldn't think twice about turning on anyone, no matter what. So far, Courtney hadn't seen that side of Carly, but she still stayed on her toes. After all, it was no secret that Carly was after Courtney's boyfriend.

Keeping one eye on the brunette and one eye on her psych book, Courtney tried to look casual as she strained to hear their conversation but she could only make out their voices over the other chatter and music. She tried to focus on her textbook again but she couldn't get Carly's words out of her head.

"I wasn't the one that hit him the second time."

* * *

"_Come on Carly, what's taking so long?" Courtney wrapped her arms around herself as the wind picked up again. She couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes but it seemed much longer. She dug through her purse for her cell phone, she wanted to call AJ and let him know that Carly was on her way to get him so he didn't just turn her away without hearing her out._

"_Finally," she muttered as she retrieved the phone from the very bottom of her bag. She held it up to inspect the signal and cried out in surprise as the phone was snatched out of her hand and thrown a few yards away. "Bobby!"_

"_Nice to see you're joining our little party," Bobby said, bringing a hand to the back of his head. He swore when he saw his fingers coated in blood. "Where'd your friend run off to? That little trick isn't going to like what I'm gonna do to her." Courtney tried to edge away but he caught her wrist. "Well now where do you think you're going Princess?" He pulled her back down onto the sand and laughed harshly. "You wouldn't want to leave me out here all alone, now would you?"_

"_Been drinking tonight Bobby?" Courtney asked as pulled her head as far from his as possible._

"_I drink every night Blondie, remember? That's why Carly fired me. Couldn't have a bartender who drank more than he served." He coughed. "Stupid bitch."_

"_See, I thought she fired you because you were running drugs through her club."_

"_Nah." Bobby leaned back and stared hard at her. "She had me arrested for the drugs but she fired me for the drinking. Get it right."_

"_So sorry."_

"_Yeah well, apology accepted." He reached out and ran a hand through her hair. "You're prettier than Carly, ya know that?"_

_She sat there unflinching. "Well she can't be that bad, I mean, you must have had a reason for attacking her tonight."_

"_She's a bitch, how's that for a reason?" He waited but Courtney gave no answer and he shrugged. "Either way, she's not here and you are, so what do ya say? Let's see if blondes really do have more fun."_

"_You're sick," she spit out as she yanked her wrist from his grip. He was quick though, and grabbed her other arm before she could get far._

"_So I'm told. I'm also a man and trust me, no man would pass you up if you were standing in front of them."_

"_A real man wouldn't have to take it regardless if I wanted it or not." She knew she shouldn't have said it the slap across her face told her the same._

"_Not quite as bitchy as Carly, but feisty all the same," Bobby muttered as he pushed her down into the sand. "Good thing I like feisty, but word of advice? Keep the comments to yourself."_

_Courtney struggled as he pinned her down. For a moment all she could think of was that she should have agreed to take that self-defense class with Carly but she quickly pushed the thought out of her mind and focused at the situation on hand. His mouth crashed down on hers and she bit into his lower lip as hard as she could. He lifted himself off of her slightly but only to slap her again. _

"_I take it back, you are a bitch," he grunted as he wiped the blood from his lip. "Makes this all the more fun for me." He grabbed at her shirt roughly, trying to undo the buttons with one hand._

_Courtney managed to free one of her hands and felt around frantically for anything in the sand. Finally, her fingers hit a rock and after a little maneuvering her hand grasped it. She took a deep breath and brought the rock down as hard as she could over Bobby's head._

_There was a sickening crack and Bobby slumped forward, pinning her underneath him. Summoning all of her strength she shoved him forward and his body fell to the left of her. _

_Scrambling to her feet, Courtney stared down at his still form. He wasn't moving and she couldn't tell if he was breathing but she wasn't about to get close enough to check for sure. She realized she was still holding the rock in her hand and did the only thing she could think of. She threw it as far out into the lake as she could, listening for the hollow splash before turning and leaving. She couldn't risk staying, she'd go find Carly and AJ who had to be close by and they'd figure out a plan. They had to._

_She turned back and squinted. She could still see him lying there and she felt sick to her stomach._

"_What have I just done?"_

* * *

"Court?" Carly snapped her fingers in front of her face. "Courtney!"

Courtney blinked. "Carly, sorry." She raised a hand and scratched her forehead. "What's up?"

"I wanted to introduce you to Jason," she said, gesturing to the man that stood next to her. "Jason, this is my best friend, Courtney Matthews, Courtney, this is Jason Morgan. He works for Sonny Corinthos and is here to talk to anyone who knew Bobby."

Courtney nodded and held out her hand, unable to look the man directly in the eyes. "It's terrible, what happened," she murmured.

"I agree, death is a terrible thing," he commented dryly.

"Death?"

Carly nodded. "Bobby's body was found two days ago," she explained. "The police are keeping it quiet."

Courtney couldn't breathe. "Oh." She fought to stay calm as she trained her eyes on Jason bravely. "And you're here to try and figure out who killed him?"

Jason shrugged. "I'm here to try and get some answers."

"Your reputation precedes you, Jason," Carly said, somewhat boldly. "Or should I say, the Corinthos family reputation?"

"The Corinthos family is a powerful one," Jason replied cryptically. "If they want answers, then answers they'll get."

"You're pretty sexy," Carly commented as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Got a girlfriend?"

"Too busy for one," Jason said, his eyes still on Courtney. She felt them on her and blushed uncomfortably.

"Pity." Carly winked. "Well, my supply guy is here so if you'll excuse me, I have to go deal with him. Jason, it was nice--"

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'm going to stick around," he said as he pulled out the chair across from Courtney. "Try and find people who knew Sonny's brother and things like that." He nodded at Courtney. "Carly says you're here most of the time, so you could help me, right?"

"Great!" Carly said, a little too loudly. "Order anything you want, it's on the house." She smiled reassuringly at Courtney and walked away before Courtney could say a thing.

Jason tapped the book in front of her. "Behavior Modification," he noted. "Psych major?"

She closed the book with a sigh. "I appreciate the attempt at small talk Mr. Morgan, but please, can you just ask me what you want to know?"

"It's Jason." He leaned back in his chair. "You don't like me."

"I don't know you."

"But you're scared of me."

"Yes."

"How can you be scared of me when you don't even know me?" She looked up and saw him grinning at her. "You said so yourself."

"Fair enough." She set her elbows on the table and leaned on them. "But again, what do you think I can help you with here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know yet," he said honestly. "But Bobby used to work here and you're here all the time, so maybe you've seen or heard something that I might find helpful."

"Maybe," Courtney mused. "Can I ask you a question, Jason?" She was surprised at how easily the name slid off of her tongue.

"Sure, we're friends now, ask away."

"What happens if you find whoever is responsible for Bobby's death?"

Jason regarded her as carefully as he chose his words. "_When_ I find Bobby's murderer, I'll do everything I can to make sure they'll pay for what they've done."

It was the answer Courtney had expected. Unfortunately, it was also the answer she feared the most.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: Thanks for the reviews! Don't get too used to me updating this frequently, I can't promise how long that'll actually happen. Enjoy! And remember, reviews do make me happy!

* * *

"So tell me something," Jason requested as he leaned forward over the table.

"Tell you what?" Courtney really didn't like the way he was looking at her and steadied her gaze on her glass.

"I don't know, how about telling me why a nice girl like you is spending all of her free time in a place like this," he said with a sweep of his hand.

She shrugged. "What's wrong with this place?" she asked. "It beats sitting at home and besides, Carly's always entertaining."

"I bet." he took a drink from his beer and kept his eyes fixated on her. "Does your boyfriend mind it that you sit here all alone all the time or does he usually join you? That is, if you have one of course."

"And here I thought you sat down at my table for help in solving a murder mystery, not pick up girls." She finally met his gaze with her own.

He shrugged. "There's no harm in mixing business with pleasure." He set his drink down. "And I like women, not girls." His steely eyes burned into hers until she looked away uncomfortably.

"So where were you before coming to Port Charles?" she asked abruptly, anxious to change the subject.

"Business it is. Your loss," he sighed. "Well, I was in Los Angeles, heading up the west coast business transactions until Bobby disappeared and now here I am."

"I would have thought Sonny Corinthos would be the one to handle his brother's disappearance," Courtney replied.

"Death," Jason corrected her. "Bobby's dead, there's no use pretending he isn't." The tone of his voice was cold enough to chill Courtney.

"Well okay then, from what I've heard about Mr. Corinthos, I would just assume he would be the one dealing with this."

"And you know what they say about assuming." He stared at her for another moment and she began to wonder if he had been the champion of the first-grade staring competition. "Have you ever met Sonny Corinthos?" She shook her head. "Well if and when you ever do, pray it's under pleasant circumstances." He sighed again. "Sonny's up to his neck in other, more pressing matters and I'm the next in line to handle this."

"Lucky you," she said cynically as she took a drink of her soda. "Why doesn't the family just leave it to the authorities to figure out?" she asked logically.

He chuckled. "I can't decide if that's the cutest thing I've heard today or the most naïve, either way, I think I might take back what I said about women over girls." He smirked as she blushed and pushed his chair back from the table to stand up. "Alright, it's later than I thought and I can see you're not up to helping me today so I'll just be on my way then." He walked around the table to stand beside her. "Oh, and Courtney?" She visibly tensed as he rested his hands on her shoulders and leaned in close enough for his breath to tickle her ear. "It's been a pleasure."

Courtney closed her eyes and waited as he removed his hands and walked away whistling. She rolled her shoulders back and shook out her hair as she waited for her pulse to stop racing.

"What did he say?" She opened her eyes to see Carly now sitting where Jason had just been. "You guys looked pretty intense sitting here."

Courtney exhaled. "He's going to kill us," she whispered.

Carly's eyes widened. "He said that? Why? What did we do?" She waved her hand as Courtney began to protest. "I mean, I know what we did, but he doesn't know, does he? I didn't tell him and I swear to got Court, if I can keep this secret and you can't, I'll--"

"He doesn't know," Courtney interrupted impatiently. She ran her hands over the crown of her head and through her hair. "But he's definitely on a mission to find out who killed Bobby and he told me that when he does, he'll make sure they pay."

"Well I guess we'll have to be really careful so he doesn't figure out it's us." Carly shrugged and took a sip of her drink. "You know, I've gotta admit, that man is damned sexy."

"He's a killer Carly. For the mob."

"So?" Carly raised her drink towards the door. "He's hot! I like me a man in leather and jeans and well, with an ass like that I think I need to get to know him a little bit better, don't you?"

"You're impossible!" Courtney scolded.

"I'm also single," Carly pointed out. "Not all of us are lucky enough to have someone in our bed every night and I'll tell you it's been way too long since I've had someone in mine."

"Great." Courtney threw her hands up in the air. "You're not going to do us any favors by jumping in bed with the man."

"Maybe I will." Carly's eyes brightened. "_Maybe_ that's _exactly_ what I need to do! I mean, once he falls prey to my charm and wit and well, my expertise, he won't even be able to think about finding Bobby's killer."

"Killer," Courtney said softly. "I can't believe we actually killed him."

* * *

"_Courtney, are you sure this is the right spot?" Carly's question floated through the air as her flashlight beamed light over the sandy beach. "I don't see anything."_

"_Are you kidding me, this is the spot, I remember the lifeguard stand right there and we were only a few yards from it." Courtney grabbed the flashlight from Carly and aimed it in another direction. "We were right there…" her voice trailed off._

"_Okay seriously you two, is this some kind of joke?" AJ asked, shining his own flashlight into the same direction as Courtney's. "Because if it is, I'm not finding it very funny."_

"_Shut up AJ!" Carly hissed. "Do you really think Courtney and I would lie about almost being raped?" She paused. "Okay, do you think Courtney would lie about it? No, of course she wouldn't!"_

"_He's not here," Courtney whispered. She waited until Carly and AJ caught up with her. "We were right here, look at the sand, you can tell. Damn it, where is he?" Courtney whirled around, shining the flashlight all around her._

"_This is good, isn't it?" Carly asked. "It means we didn't kill him. That's good news!"_

"_Until he comes after one of us again," Courtney pointed out. "We've got to find him."_

"_And do what?" Carly challenged. "Hit him again? The asshole has a head of steal, we can hit him a million more times and it wouldn't do any good."_

"_Can you be serious for one minute?" Courtney demanded, training her light directly on Carly's face. _

"_I am being serious," Carly shot back. "But that doesn't mean I want go to on a little search party for the guy. You can't tell me you want to either."_

"_No but what else are we going to do?" Courtney turned towards her boyfriend, who was still just standing there. "AJ, what do we do?"_

"_I don't know Court," AJ said. "You haven't been gone for very long, he couldn't have gotten very far, especially if you two hit him as hard as you say he did."_

"_Look!" Carly shrieked. She pointed down to the sand. "Footsteps!" She followed them as far as she could. She frowned when she reached the shoreline. "Don't tell me Bobby was stupid enough to walk directly into the water and not notice," she muttered. "I can't believe I ever hired him in the first place."_

"_It's possible, if he had a concussion," AJ noted. He looked at the two girls. "We can't stick around much longer," he realized. "Someone could see us and you two don't need someone placing you at the beach tonight." He grabbed them each by the arm and started to lead them away._

"_We can't just leave!" Courtney protested._

"_Yes we can," AJ said firmly. "Courtney, he's gone. It's not your fault, you were only protecting yourself and as far as I'm concerned, he walked into that water of his own free will. The best thing to do now is go home, and pretend this night never happened."_

"_Works for me," Carly chimed in. She looked at Courtney pleadingly. "Court, come on," she begged. "It's cold out here and I just want to have a drink and then fall into my bed. Let's go."_

_Courtney cast a glance over her shoulder to the empty spot of the beach. "Fine," she said resignedly. "Fine, let's go."_

"_Good girl," AJ said, squeezing her hand in his. He leaned forward to press a kiss against her cheek. "Okay, if anyone asks, you two were with me all night, drinking and watching movies at my place, got it?" They both nodded. "Good, now let's get out of here."_

* * *

"Cheer up Court," Carly said, startling her out of yet another daydream. She set a new glass in front of her and sat back down. "From what I saw today, it would appear to me that our charming little mobster has a thing for you."

Courtney was taking a drink from her glass and nearly choked as Courtney spoke. And she wasn't choking because of the vodka Carly had added to her soda. "What are you talking about?" she sputtered.

"Oh please, don't tell me you've forgotten what its like to have a man flirting with you." Carly rolled her eyes. "This is good thing Courtney, don't worry."

"Really, why?" Courtney took another drink.

"It's like they always say. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. We're going to make sure Jason Morgan becomes one of our very dear friends."

_Too bad it could work either way,_ Courtney thought bitterly She kept the thought to herself though, opting instead to go another route. "Do you honestly believe that?" she asked incredulously.

"No," Carly said with a shake of her dark hair. She giggled slightly. "I just always wanted to say it."

* * *

"You're late." Sonny Corinthos barely looked up from his desk as Jason walked into the sitting room of the Corinthos estate.

"Good to see you again too Sonny." Jason handed his jacket to the maid and sat down on the couch across from Sonny.

"Tell me you were at least working." Still, he didn't look up.

"No, I was at the race track." Sonny finally looked up and Jason shook his head. "Calm down, I was at the Cellar. You said Bobby worked there, I figured people would know him."

"And did they?"

"A couple of them did," Jason admitted. "I'll find out more tomorrow, but I didn't want to be any later getting here than I was, so I called it quits for the night."

"So glad to see finding my brother's murderer is someone you can find whenever you want to," Sonny said through gritted teeth.

"Come now Sonny!" The third voice startled them both and they turned their attention to the staircase in the corner of the room. "That's no way to talk to Jason, especially since he dropped everything he was doing to get here as quick as he did. How are you Jason?"

Jason stood as Adella Corinthos made her way into the room. "I'm good Adella, and yourself?"

"As good as can be expected," she said, accepting the hug Jason gave her and kissing his cheek. "You're a good boy to be concerned, my own son doesn't even see fit to ask me how I am anymore."

"Bobby's dead Mama," Sonny said, still seated at his desk. "It's a miracle he stayed alive as long as he did, you can't tell me you're surprised someone killed him."

"You see?" Adella cried, pointing a finger at Sonny. "You see why I called for you to deal with this and not my own son, my _first born_?" She slammed her fist down on Sonny's desk, scattering his papers. "Roberto was your brother, he was your _blood_, and you're more concerned with a few thousand dollars missing from a casino we don't even own anymore?" She shook her head sadly and turned back to Jason. "You, Jason, you should have let me adopt you when I wanted to. All this could have been yours."

Jason smiled patiently at the older woman. Her theatrics were just as dramatic as they had been the first time he had met her. "Della, I was seventeen when I met you, there was no need for adoption. Besides," he offered her a grin. "We're still family, aren't we."

"Familia," she repeated fondly. She walked back over to him and held his face in her hands. "Yes, we are family. That's how I know Jason. That's how I know you'll avenge my baby boy's death properly. I can count on you." She released his face and patted his cheek lovingly. "You must be starving after your trip, come, let's go see if dinner's ready yet." She turned back to Sonny. "Will you be joining us mijo?"

"As soon as I'm done Mama," he muttered, once again absorbed in his paperwork.

"Very well then." Adella linked her arm through Jason's and led him into the dining room. "So tell me, all the ladies in California, they're after you nonstop, aren't they?"

Sonny lifted his eyes and watched scathingly as his mother and Jason left the room. He hadn't wanted Morgan here in the first place but his mother was right, Sonny didn't care enough about who killed his brother, his heart wouldn't have been in the search and he wouldn't have brought about the proper justice fit for the crime committed.

It was ironic, he thought as he put his papers away and went to join them in the dining room. The only one with enough anger and loyalty to avenge his brother's death was a brain-damaged hitman his mother had taken pity on and brought into the family.

Like it or not, Jason would get the job done and Sonny prayed he would get it done sooner than later, so everyone could get on again with their lives.

Although, Sonny grinned to himself, the grin of a smugly kept secret. There were things no one, not even Jason, knew about Bobby's death. Things that undoubtedly blow things sky high and turn the tables on everyone.

It was all just a matter of time until Sonny decided to disclose those truths. And he for one, couldn't wait until he did.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been two weeks since Jason Morgan had showed up in Port Charles and already, he had made himself quite comfortable in town. He was nightly fixture at Carly's club and had almost convinced her to hire him on as a part-time bouncer when one of her guys quit. Carly had seriously considered it, until she saw the look Courtney had given her and reluctantly told him she was looking for someone more permanent.

He wasn't just at the club either. Courtney would see him when she left classes or at the park when she was out jogging. He rarely approached her but he always made sure saw him. She wasn't sure if she was just paranoid in thinking that he was tailing her or if it was all coincidental.

She was sure however, that he wasn't at the Port Charles Grill, which is where she was tonight. AJ had been out of town for the last two weeks on family business and now that he was back, Courtney felt a little bit safer. She hadn't told him about Jason being in town when they had spoken on the phone because she knew he would have neglected work and come straight home and that was something his family wouldn't appreciate, so she kept quiet. Now that he was home though, she'd have to tell him sooner or later.

"This is nice," she said, smiling across the table at him. "I can't remember the last time the two of us went out like this."

"It's been too long," AJ agreed, reaching over and touching her hand. "We should come here more often," he added, taking a drink from his glass. "It's a nice change from the Cellar, it's quieter, the food is excellent, there's no--"

"No Carly," Courtney finished with a small laugh.

"Let the record show that you said it not me." AJ winked. His face turned serious as he set his glass down. "So has anything happened since I've been gone?"

"Actually, some stu--"

"Oh my god you guys, look who's here!" Carly swooped down on their table suddenly out of nowhere.

"Carly. Hey." AJ looked over at Courtney who shrugged her shoulders. She hadn't told Carly where they were going, the girl just always seemed to know.

"Who Carly?" Courtney asked. She turned her head in the direction Courtney nodded. Seated at the bar was a very attractive blonde, dressed completely in black and drinking a martini. "I don't recognize her, who is that?"

"Faith Roscoe Corinthos, wife of Sonny, sister-in-law of the recently deceased Bobby." Carly's voice lowered into her gossiping tone. "She's been out of town for the longest time, it can't be good that she's back. She's crazy from what I hear, borderline psychotic."

AJ choked on his drink as he tried to stifle his laugh. Courtney shot him a look and he apologized.

"Do you think her being back has anything to do with Bobby?" Courtney asked, tapping her fork against her plate nervously.

Carly shrugged. "Probably, I'm sure that now that Jason's back, Adella's calling for all forces on the home front and I've heard that the only one in that family as lethal as Jason is Faith. They call her the Black Widow. Which really makes no sense to me, seeing as how she's not a widow, but I don't know if--"

"Wait, Jason Morgan?" AJ interrupted Carly's rambling. "You didn't tell me Jason was back in town."

"I was about to when Carly showed up." Courtney was surprised at the tone of AJ's voice. "AJ, it's okay, he's not--"

"It's not okay," he interrupted. He sighed. "Has he been hanging around you? I don't want you talking to him, okay?"

"Aw, how cute. Big strong AJ being all protective of his little innocent girlfriend." Carly's saccharine voice dripped with sarcasm. "You guys are lame, I'm going to go have some fun while I'm still alive." She reached over and took AJ's drink, swallowing it in one gulp. "You two should do the same. Later."

"Remind me why you're friends with her?" AJ asked. "Forget it, we've got other things to talk about. Has Jason Morgan been hanging around you?"

"He's around," Courtney said truthfully. "I wouldn't say he's specifically around _me_ but he's around town. He's digging around for information on Bobby, AJ you knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up."

"I figured sooner than later," AJ said. He gestured for a waiter to bring him another drink. "Court, there's something I have to tell you. Jason my brother."

"I'm sorry, I thought I just heard you say Jason Morgan was your brother." Courtney stared at him. "AJ, what in the hell are you talking about? I've met your family."

He nodded amicably. "You've met my parents, and you've met Emily, hell, you've met a few cousins, and now you've met Jason." He picked up his fresh drink and raised it to his mouth. "Jason is my half-brother, he's my mom's, not my dad's but they raised him together. They'll tell you different now, but Jason was always favored over me because he was following in the footsteps of the family, he was going to be a doctor." AJ shook his head. "He was taking college courses his junior year of high school."

"Wow." Despite herself, Courtney was impressed with this information. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that her answer wasn't the one AJ was looking for and she realized there had to be some extreme sibling rivalry between the two. All AJ had ever told her about his family was how they were constantly on his back to do better, that he was never good enough and now he was telling her that Jason, of all people, had been the Quartermaine golden child. "What happened?"

"There was a car accident, and Jason was thrown hard from the car. There was a lot of brain damage and he was in a coma for weeks. When he woke up, he wasn't Jason anymore. He couldn't remember anything about who he was or anyone around him."

"That's horrible."

AJ nodded. "My parents did what they do best. They pushed him. They pushed him so hard to remember everything that he couldn't take it anymore and when he couldn't remember they made him feel worthless and he just left. He walked out of the house and he never came back."

"How did he end up working for the Corinthos family?"

AJ shook his head. "I don't know, but for whatever reason Adella Corinthos took him under her wing and turned him into the mobster wannabe that he is now."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this before now?" Courtney asked with a shake of her head. "AJ, ever since that night we've known Jason was coming back into town, how come you didn't tell me he was your brother?"

"Yeah big brother, why didn't you tell her?"

Both Courtney and AJ looked up to see Jason standing over their table. Across the room, Carly spied this as well, and whispered "Incoming," as she turned to the bartender to order another drink without fully taking her eyes off of the table. This was one show she didn't want to miss.

"I've got to say Courtney, in all of our little talks, you never mentioned you were dating AJ Quartermaine." Jason pulled out the chair formerly occupied by Carly and sat down. "I didn't know we were keeping secrets from each other now."

"You never asked me who I was dating," Courtney shot back defensively, not looking at AJ. She had a feeling this wasn't going to go well. "Besides, you spend enough time digging around for information, I'm surprised you didn't find out yourself."

"Talks?" AJ echoed. "Court, you said he wasn't bothering you."

"Maybe that's because I'm not bothering her," Jason pointed out. "I mean, maybe she enjoys my company just a little bit."

"Not really," she said, glaring at him.

He shrugged. "It's okay, I'm not in town long anyways, I don't need a best friend. I'll admit this though, I knew you were dating AJ." He held up his hands in mock defeat. "I did, but since you never seemed to be aware of the connection between the two of us, I figured you didn't know and well, I didn't want to ruin the surprise." He leaned back in his chair. "Though I am glad to be here for the announcement."

"Stay away from Courtney," AJ said, staring at the man seated next to him.

"Why? She's been very helpful to me. You know why I'm in town, right AJ? Bobby's dead and someone killed him and your girlfriend and her friend seem to be the only ones here who really knew him all that well." He leaned forward slightly. "What about you AJ? Did you know Bobby? I suppose you wouldn't really have needed to know him to kill him though, would you?"

"What's your point Jason?"

He shrugged. "I'm just saying, where were you the night Bobby disappeared?"

"He was with me." Courtney spoke up, unable to keep silent any longer.

Jason nodded. "I'll give you this AJ, you still know how to pick the girls."

"I want you to leave Courtney alone," AJ repeated. "Come on Jason, she knew Bobby only because he worked at the Cellar, that was all, they weren't friends."

"They weren't?" Jason cocked his head to the side. "That's not what I've heard, but if you say so AJ well then, it must be true, shouldn't it?"

"What do you mean, that's not what you heard?" Courtney tried to keep her voice as calm as she spoke while a million different possibilities of what Jason was talking about ran through her head.

"It is extremely rude Jason, to invite me out for drinks and then leave me stranded at the bar while you stand here chitchatting with other people. If I wanted to be ignored, I'd have stayed home with my husband." They looked up once more to find someone new standing over their table. It was the woman Carly had pointed out earlier, Faith.

"Faith." Jason greeted her with a smile but Courtney detected annoyance in his voice. She didn't like being able to tell the differences in his tones. "Let me introduce you. This is AJ Quartermaine and Courtney Matthews, remember, I was telling you about them earlier?"

"Right." Faith glanced down at Courtney quickly before turning back to Jason. "I thought this was pleasure, and not business," she said with a slight pout.

"I'll never understand why you girls won't mix business and pleasure," Jason looked directly at Courtney as he pushed the chair back from the table and stood up. "I suppose I'll put off the business until tomorrow." He smiled. "You get out of class at two tomorrow right?" He didn't give her a chance to answer before continuing. "Doesn't matter, I'll just catch you when I catch you." He turned to AJ. "See you around big brother." He was a few feet away when he turned around after only a few steps. "Oh and Court?" She cringed at the familiar nickname. Make sure he doesn't have too much to drink tonight, you know how he can get, don't you?" He guided Faith towards the bar again and didn't look back.

"What the hell Courtney?"

"Me? You're asking me what the hell?" She shook her head. "AJ, did you hear him? He all but threatened me!"

"What?" AJ blinked.

"Him and Faith, they know something!" She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands. "Oh my god, they know about me and Carly, they have to."

"How can you be so sure? He didn't say anything."

"I'll put off the business until tomorrow? I'll catch you when I catch you?" She shook her head. "Don't tell me I'm being paranoid AJ, he knows something."

"And you would know that how? Because you've spent so much time with him that you know everything about him now?" AJ shot back.

Her laughter was brittle as she leaned back in her chair. "Unbelievable. I'm being threatened by a mob enforcer and you're jealous because I've had a few conversations with him? Nice AJ, real nice."

"Courtney, trust me, he doesn't know anything." AJ shook his head. "He doesn't know anything so he's just baiting you into giving him something he can use. Don't fall for it Court, and don't fall for his charm."

"Charm?" Courtney laughed again. "Jason is anything but charming AJ. He scares the crap out of me."

"Good, make sure it stays that way." He pushed his own chair back. "What do you say we get out of here?" he asked. "It's getting too crowded and I haven't seen you in weeks, I've missed you."

"But AJ, what if--"

"Court, I get that you're scared, I do. And I won't lie, you should be, but trust me, Jason doesn't know anything. If he did, well," AJ paused. "We wouldn't be here having dinner. I'm not going to let him get to you Courtney, he's not going to find out anything about that night and what you and Carly did. I promise. Now come on, let's get out of here before the night's completely ruined."

"All right," she agreed finally, moving her own chair. She watched as AJ finished the last of his drink and remembered Jason's last words to them. She shook her head and chalked it up to another one of his scare tactics. She waved goodbye to Carly as AJ helped her put on her coat and took her hand as they walked out of the PC Grille.

Over at the bar, Faith watched as the couple made their way out. "So what's the deal there?" she asked, turning back to Jason.

He shrugged, swallowing before he answered. "They know something about Bobby that they aren't telling me," he said. "Courtney, she seems to be the weakest of the three, I'm sure I can get her to break down the easiest though her friend over there? The one whose staring at us? I'm sure I could get her to talk as well."

"They killed Bobby?"

"I didn't say that," Jason corrected her. "I said they know something. That's entirely different."

"Yeah, it's not nearly as fun," Faith said somberly. She finished her drink and ran her tongue over her lips, not wanting to waste any of the alcohol. "Someone's going to have to give soon or Adella's going to be pissed. She's already talking about bringing in two of the other families to start searching and you and I both know if she brings in the Corolla family they're going to cause all sorts of hell for the citizens of Port Charles."

"You keep Adella at bay," Jason said as he set his glass down. "Leave everything else to me, I'll tighten the screws a little bit more, let them believe I'm getting close and they'll cave. You'll see." He smiled at Faith and they both turned their attention to Carly, who was still at the other end of the bar, flirting with a group of guys. "It's only a matter of time."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:** So I don't usually do this, but I'm going to take the time here to shout-out to everyone who has reviewed this. First of all, you all rock, plain and simple. Journey reviewers are the best, it's true…we're all very detailed and fun and so much more than just "update soon!" I'm having so much fun writing Jason in this story and I really do thank you all for having such an open mind when reading it! And while everyone is awesome with their reviews, I have to single out **Suzie**, **Emmalee**, and **Asia**… sure we all tend to ramble once in awhile, but you girls continuously make me smile with your comments and observations, and honestly, each of you are responsible for some of the things that will be happening in the next few chapters… And Asia? Thank you_so much_for putting up with random questions at 2 am such as "What would Faith drink at the bar?" So once again, thank you and happy reading!

This is the obligatory filler chapter… but it's only chapter four you say! Well, I needed a few key things included in here but everything else is filler…trust me, by the sixth chapter things will really take off and everything up until then will be worth the read.

* * *

Courtney shivered as she rang the doorbell for the third time. "Come on Carly," she muttered as she shifted from one foot to the other, wishing she had grabbed a coat on her way out into the cool autumn night. Of course, she hadn't planned on visiting Carly at almost two in the morning so it was a miracle in itself she had changed from her pajamas into jeans and a sweater before leaving her own apartment. She raised her hand to ring the doorbell another time when the door swung open and Carly appeared in the doorway with an annoyed look on her face.

"Okay, you know, I love you and all, but pounding on my door in the middle of the night is not one of my favorite things you've done," she griped as she let Courtney in. "Especially since, you know, mobsters are after us and I hear they like to attack in the middle of the night. Which brings me to my next question, what the hell are you doing here?"

Courtney dropped down onto Carly's couch and waited for her to do the same. "I can't take it anymore Carly, he's stalking me and why would he do that unless he knew something and I think it's time we went to the police. We should have gone to the police in the first place."

"And she says it all in one breath." Carly looked impressed for a moment before standing back up and heading into the kitchen. She came back with two glasses and a bottle of vodka and Courtney rolled her eyes at both.

"I don't need a drink Carly, I need my life back! Aren't you tired of this? Aren't you tired of looking over your shoulder at every sound and thinking every day could be the last one you're alive because they could finally figure out we're the ones who killed Bobby." Courtney knew her words didn't matter, Carly was only going to shrug them off and that was another reason she had shown up here tonight. She needed to force Carly to accept her role in this because she didn't know how much more she could handle by herself.

Although she knew better, she truly felt like she was in this alone. AJ was too busy forcing himself to believe that everything was going to be okay to believe her when she told him Jason knew more than he was saying and Carly as always, was off in her own little world, pretending that nothing had happened in the first place. A few more days and Courtney was sure Carly would actually believe nothing was wrong at all.

They were allowed to believe in their fantasies though, because they weren't the ones being sought after, no. Clearly, Courtney was Jason's favorite and he had no trouble admitting it.

That's why she was here at Carly's so late at night and it's why she grudgingly took the liquor-filled glass Carly handed her.

"What happened?" Carly asked, rearranging herself on the couch again. "I take it this has to do with Jason?" She shook her head. "Of course it does, he's all you ever want to talk about anymore."

Courtney stared at her for a moment. "You're kidding right? Carly, the man is here to kill us. He doesn't know it's us he's supposed to kill, but that's what's going to happen, and he's getting closer to the truth."

"And you know this how?"

"He asked me if Bobby ever harassed you or me," she said. "He's asking about the details of him working at the Cellar and why you fired him." She drew her legs up underneath her. "I swear he thinks I know something, he won't leave me alone. He's waiting for me after classes, he's always sitting at my table at the Cellar, I see him everywhere Carly!"

"Sounds like Mr. Mobster has a crush on you."

"Damn it Carly, can you be serious for just one minute here?" Courtney slammed her glass down on the coffee table and glared at her friend. "Jason is this close to knowing we're responsible and I want to go to the police."

"You're crazy! What are the police going to do? They'll charge us with murder and then we'll still be killed anyway." Carly shook her head. "No, absolutely no police, they can't help us. They're not even investigating this case because they're afraid to get in Adella Corinthos' way."

"They can protect us," Courtney argued.

"How? Witness protection?" Carly rolled her eyes. "Thanks, but I think I'd rather take my chances here then end up being Elsie Johnson of Hicktown, Montana. Trust me, the cops can't help us."

"Well we need to do something." Courtney sighed. "I can't take this anymore. I'm scared Carly, and I'm afraid I'm going to say something to Jason that's going to tip him off."

"Then don't let yourself be alone with him Courtney," Carly said logically. "We'll just make sure that it's never just the two of you, AJ should be happy with that. Where is AJ anyway? Why aren't you at his house in the middle of the night?"

"AJ's out of town for the night again," she replied. "He'll be back in the morning. And Carly, I'd love to never have to be alone with Jason again but you don't get it! He knows where I am at all times, he's seriously stalking me."

"I still think he likes you," Carly muttered under her breath. She smiled brightly as Courtney glared at her. "I've got it," she said with a snap of her fingers. "You'll move in here!"

Courtney nearly spit out her drink. "Move in?" she repeated weakly.

"Yes, I don't know why we didn't think of this before, Courtney, if you live with me, then you won't have to worry about Jason coming to see you at your place and we can make sure each other is safe. If we're together all of the time, then neither of us can slip up. This is perfect." Carly smiled satisfactorily as she raised her glass to Courtney. "We'll move you in tomorrow Roomy!"

Courtney attempted to smile as she clinked her glass against Carly's and weakly repeated "Roomy" to her.

In some twisted way it did make sense. They were safer if they were together. On the other hand, they would be together. All the time. And Courtney wasn't sure if their friendship could handle that. She finished the rest of her drink, ignoring the burn as it slid down her throat and smiled again at her new roommate.

* * *

So much for constant togetherness. It had only been six days since Courtney had moved in with Carly and she had already grown tired of Carly dragging her everywhere she went or having Carly follow her all over town as well so Courtney had politely told her that she was going to spend some time with her dad at Kelly's and then have him give her a ride home so she wouldn't need Carly to go with her. Carly had happily obliged, saying she had a date anyway.

It was late as she left the diner, telling her dad that she was going to walk back to Carly's instead. It wasn't that far, she reasoned, and in the past few days she had barely seen Jason so she felt safe enough to make the three block trek on her own. The nights were getting cooler as October progressed and Courtney zipped up her coat to ward off the chilly wind. She walked a few steps in the direction of Carly's apartment but remembered she needed to grab a book from her own place so she quickly reversed and headed towards her loft, deciding to take the shortcut across the docks to get there quicker.

She recognized him by the leather jacket before she even heard his voice. Perfect. Of course Jason was on the docks at the exact moment she was. He wasn't alone and he hadn't seen her yet so she stayed where she was on the landing and waited for him to move along. As she stood there she couldn't help but listen in on the conversation below.

"Mrs. Corinthos says you haven't complied with the stipulations of the agreement." Jason circled around the older man and finally came to rest in front of him. "Do you have an explanation?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Morgan, I need a little more time. A few days, a week at the most." Jason was blocking her view of the man but Courtney could tell by the sound of his voice that he was scared. "I promise, by Wednesday I can have the entire debt paid off."

"That's what you said last week. And the week before that, and the week before that." He paused and Courtney poked her head around the corner to look. She was surprised to see the flash of silver as Jason pulled a gun out of his pocket. "It is the order of Adella herself that you make the payment in full tonight or pay with your life, but Sonny Corinthos has stepped in and given you a final extension." She watched in horror as Jason brought the butt of the gun down across the man's head and followed quickly with a punch to the stomach. "Consider this your last reprieve. Sunday night, you're to meet Mr. Corinthos at the Church of Angels and repay him your full debt." He hit him again. "This is your last warning. Get out of here." He pulled the man up to his feet and pushed him down the docks, watching as he staggered away.

Courtney closed her eyes and pressed herself deeper against the brick wall. She had known from the beginning that Jason was an integral part of the Corinthos organization but to see it up close and in person was something she hadn't been prepared for. She held her breath, listening as Jason made a phone call to Sonny and waited for him to leave so she could continue on her way. She accidentally dropped her purse and winced at the dull thud. She stood frozen in her spot, praying he hadn't heard.

He did hear however and turned towards the landing. "Who's there?" he asked harshly as he walked closer. Courtney cringed and weighed her options though she quickly realized it didn't matter if she showed herself or not because he would find her if she didn't. She took a deep breath and stepped out under the streetlamp.

"It's just me," she said softly. She watched as Jason's face softened slightly before hardening again. "Sorry, I was just on my way to the loft," she stammered.

He stared at her for a moment and then beckoned for her to join him on the dock. She wrapped her arms around her waist and walked over to him. They stood there awkwardly for a minute and Courtney had no idea what to say. Was she supposed to bring up what she overheard or was she supposed to pretend she hadn't heard it at all?

"Well come on," Jason said with a jerk of his head. "Let's get you home."

"I'm fine, really," she protested. "It's just a few blocks, you don't have to walk me."

"Sure I do. You shouldn't be out here by yourself. The docks are dangerous at night," he added dryly.

She raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing as they began walking. After a few minutes of silence she finally spoke. "Busy night?"

He shrugged. "Slow actually." He looked at her sideways. "How much did you see?"

"Enough to get me in trouble I'm sure," she answered honestly.

"Forget you saw anything and I'll do the same." She didn't like the way he was speaking to her, it was almost as though he was instructing her on what to do and she wouldn't like the ramifications if she didn't listen.

"So I haven't seen you in a few days," she said conversationally. Anything to change the subject.

"Just because you haven't seen me doesn't mean I'm not around," he replied. "So the move-in with Carly, what's that about?"

His words chilled her. She hadn't spoken to him since she had moved but somehow he still knew. "So what, are you stalking me?" she asked, trying to keep her voice light.

"Not at all, I just like to know where people are at all times." He winked at her. "So you noticed you hadn't seen me in awhile, could it be you were missing me?"

"No," she scoffed. They reached her building finally and she couldn't have been happier. "Okay, thanks for walking me here," she said, turning to face him. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon enough."

"Count on it." He nodded at her. "Tell Carly I said hi." He turned and walked away, whistling softly.

"Jason?" she called after him. He turned and looked at her and she hesitated before speaking again. "About earlier…"

He nodded again. "I meant what I said Courtney, forget you saw anything." He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away, leaving his words to hang over Courtney as she watched him disappear around the corner.

* * *

"You're serious? He actually pistol-whipped the guy?" Carly leaned back against the couch cushions and shook her head. It was the following night and Courtney was finally filling her in on what had happened on the docks. "That's crazy, I bet he looked hot doing it."

"Carly!"

"Okay okay, it is pretty scary," Carly relented. "I mean, we knew he killed people for a living so he probably beats up quite a few too. I don't know what I would have done if I had seen him do that. What did you do?"

"Nothing, I tried to hide and he wouldn't have known I was even there if I wasn't such a klutz and dropped my purse." Courtney closed her eyes and leaned her own head back. "The scariest part was how unaffected he was by it. I mean, he basically beat the crap out of that guy and then shrugged it off."

"I wonder what the guy did," Carly mused.

"No clue, but he obviously owed the Corinthos family money." Courtney shuddered. Now that she knew how they dealt with monetary debts, she had no desire to see how they would deal with anything more extreme than that, especially since she was sure there were probably countless debts owed to the family that were repaid daily in whatever form they saw fit.

"This is crazy," Carly repeated. "We've got to stay on our toes Court, there's no way I want to be on the receiving end of a Jason Morgan meeting on the docks." Both girls looked up as the front door opened slightly and AJ walked in. Carly threw a pillow at him, hitting him square in the chest. "Jesus AJ, announce yourself next time!"

"Sorry," he apologized. "You two look a little tense, is everything okay?" He leaned down and kissed Courtney's cheek before sitting across from the two of them.

"You mean besides the fact we're unknowingly wanted by the mob and Courtney witnessed a Jason Morgan smack down last night?" Carly rolled her eyes. "We're just peachy AJ, absolutely dandy."

"Oh now you're worried?" he shot back. "Funny, because all I've seen you do is make jokes about this entire thing."

"And you leave town all the time," she said snidely. "Hiding much?"

"Both of you stop!" Courtney threw her hands up in the air and sighed. "We can't be fighting with each other," she said. "We need to stick together now and all three of us need to focus on staying on Jason's good side for now." She looked down at her lap as she spoke. "I don't think he's going to be in town much longer anyways, he doesn't seem to be making much progress in this which is great news for us."

"I don't like that you're so close with him Courtney," AJ frowned.

"I'm not," she assured him quickly. "Before tonight I hadn't seen him all week. It's okay, really."

"Well I still want you to stay away from him. Carly's right, neither of you should be alone with him at any point, okay?"

"I promise." Courtney blew a kiss in his direction and smiled at him. Carly agreed as well and the three of them decided to order in pizza rather than go back out again.

As Carly and AJ were arguing over toppings Courtney's cell phone rang from within her pocket and she pulled it out and turned her back to her friends. _Unavailable ID_. She bit the inside of her cheek and hesitated before answering it. "Hello?"

"Courtney." She was shocked to hear Jason's voice on the other end. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"No…" her voice trailed off as she turned back to Carly and AJ who were still arguing and oblivious to her. She walked into the adjacent room and shut the door. "How did you get this number?"

"Easily. Are you busy?"

"Yes."

"Change your plans. I need to see you."

"Jason, it's late. Can't we meet tomorrow?" Her heart was beating so hard she was sure it was about to fly out of her chest.

"I didn't realize ten was late to you. Very well. Tomorrow afternoon after your Psych class." Her skin prickled as he once again revealed how well he knew her schedule. "Meet me at the Pizza Shack at five. Is that out in the open and public enough for you?" She hated how he seemed to read her mind. She also hated how his question wasn't even really a question but more of a demand.

"Five at the Pizza Shack, got it," she said stonily.

"It's a date. Oh and Courtney? Just you, okay? This is really important." He hung up before she could answer and she stared at the phone in her hands for a few seconds before she finally hung it up and took a few breaths to compose herself. She slid the phone back into her pocket and headed back out into the living room with a fake smile plastered on her face.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey." Courtney reached out and touched Jason's shoulder tentatively. He jumped and a smile graced her face briefly. "Imagine that, I scared the big bad Jason Morgan. And here I thought you always watched your back."

He shrugged. "I'm surprised you came." He touched her elbow briefly, motioning for her to follow him around the corner to the back of the building.

"It's not as though I was given much choice," she retorted as she stuffed her hands into her coat pockets. "Don't think I didn't see the men waiting to follow me after my class ended. I don't appreciate being watched, by the way."

Jason laughed soundlessly. "I had to be sure you showed up. I never can tell with you, you know. So, how has your day been so far? It's good to see you're going to classes again, I know you've missed a few this week." He eyed her knowingly. "Maybe living with Carly is a bad influence on you?" he suggested. "I bet AJ doesn't like it too much either, does he?"

"Why am I here Jason?" she asked abruptly. "What's the big secret that couldn't wait? Was so important that only I could hear it, and it had to be here and not at the club, where I'm sure you'll be later tonight." She took a deep breath and folded her arms against her chest. "What is it Jason? Come on, tell--"

"You killed Bobby." He turned and faced her directly. She was instantly chilled by the smile on his face. It was calm and threatening all at the same time. Instinctively she backed up, only to find herself against the cement brick of the building.

"You know." Her eyes closed and she didn't know what was worse, the fact that he knew or the fact that she was relieved that the truth was finally known. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again, leveling them against his. Despite the gravity of the situation she couldn't help but notice the blueness of his eyes. She wasn't blind, she had noticed them before, but now, the coldness in them only made them that much more striking and she was mesmerized for a moment.

"Of course I know. Did you think I wouldn't?" He took another step closer, invading her personal space but she was still up against the wall so there was nowhere to go. "Don't tell me you didn't think I'd find out, or that I didn't already know." Another step closer. "Silly girl." She could feel his breath on her cheek as he spoke.

Courtney glanced sideways in both directions but she knew there was no use in running. Jason was just as fast, and faster, than she was. "So now what?" she asked shakily. She closed her eyes again, bracing herself for the inevitable answer.

Courtney wasn't ready for what happened next and before she knew what was happening his mouth was on hers in a kiss so searing it literally made her lose her footing and she had to grab onto him to stay standing. Jason stepped back and she stared at him curiously, raising her fingers to her lips.

"I wish it didn't have to happen this way." She watched as he pulled the gun out of his pocket and attached a silencer to the end of it. Her tears fell freely as she heard the sickening sound of the hammer being pulled back. "Forgive me, Courtney."

Courtney flew into an upright position, gasping as she turned to look at the alarm clock next to the bed. _4:42 am._ She leaned her head back against the headboard and held her hands to her chest as her heart resumed beating normally again.

"Hey." AJ's voice next to her caused her to jump again and he looked at her worriedly. "It's just me," he said, raising himself up and touching her arm. "Are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice. She was sure the moment she started talking she would tell AJ everything, including the fact that she was supposed to meet Jason later on this afternoon. She watched as he threw the covers back and got out of bed, returning moments later with a glass of water that he handed to her.

"Thanks," she whispered, clutching the glass. She took a sip before placing it on the nightstand next to the clock. AJ pulled her back down on the bed, wrapping an arm around her.

"That's the fifth nightmare you've had this week," he said, brushing her hair from her shoulder and smoothing it back. "I don't like this Courtney, I wish you could just get passed everything. It's in the past, the only people that know are you, me and Carly, and none of us are going to say anything."

She pulled out of his embrace and rolled over onto her side, facing away from him. "I guess it's easier to forget anything ever happened when you're not the one who killed someone," she said bitterly. "Good night AJ."

AJ tried for a few minutes to get her to talk but gave up as she pretended to fall back asleep. Once she heard his breathing even out she opened her eyes again and stared at the clock as the minutes ticked slowly by.

It was true, she had been having bad dreams more frequently as the weeks went on, but generally, there was nothing this specific. She chalked up the nightmares to feeling guilty and being scared which was pretty logical in her mind, but tonight's dream had been different. Never before had Jason invaded her dreams and never had she dreamt about kissing him. She had no idea where that came from, other than Carly's constant speculations that he was interested in her.

One thing was for sure, she decided, focusing her gaze on the red numbers until they blurred together as she drifted back to sleep. This afternoon was going to be interesting.

* * *

Jason walked into the main foyer of Adella's house to the sounds of Faith berating one of the maids. He smiled sympathetically at another maid, who took his coat from him and hung it in the closet. "Thanks Amelia," he said with another smile, before heading towards the living room just in time to hear the tail end of Faith's rant.

"Now, I understand that you are a simple minded house girl, but for god sakes, when I say I need my outfit pressed for lunch, I mean twelve noon, not three-fifteen." She smiled condescendingly. "Surely you can get that right tomorrow, can't you Julie?" She nodded as the petite woman nodded furiously at her. "Splendid. That's all."

"Faith," Jason stepped further into the room and alerted her to his presence.

"Jason!" Faith smiled brightly at him as she turned from the bar. "Mojito?" she offered, holding out a glass in his direction. He declined with a shake of his head and she shrugged. "More for me." She draped herself over one of the leather couches and waited for him to sit down. "Any idea why Adella called this little pow-wow in the middle of the afternoon?"

"I heard Lorenzo Alcazar and Jax Jacks were seen around town, so I'm thinking she's planning on calling for a meeting of the families," Jason guessed. "With them here already, it would be easy to call in the Moreno and Corolla families from New York and finally restore some of the trust that's been lost over the last six months.

"All I know is we better be done fast, I have things to do this afternoon still."

"And who is it this week Faith?" Jason asked. "The pool boy? A bellboy at the Port Charles Hotel?"

"I hear it's the gardener." They both looked up as Sonny came into the room. He nodded at Jason before sitting down next to his wife. "And how are you today, my ever-faithful wife?"

"Just peachy, my dear, sweet husband, absolutely perfect." Her voice was as sweet as honey as she smiled at him over the rim of her glass. "I would offer you a drink, but judging by the empty whiskey decanter, my guess is you're all set."

"Oh good, everyone's here." Adella came in from her office adjoining the living room and took her place. "Thank you for being so prompt, I know I didn't give you much notice." She smiled at Amelia, who handed her a cup of tea and waited for her to leave the room again. "There's a few things we should discuss today, but I want to begin with my news first. As you may have heard, Lorenzo Alcazar is in town and he's approached me with a very interesting proposition."

"No Mama," Sonny interrupted, ignoring the glare from his mother. "You know better than to listen to anything Alcazar spits your way. No business with him."

"Well now, if you had taken the meeting with him like I asked, you would have had the opportunity to decline his offer, but as I recall, you weren't in the mood to go," Adella responded. "Now, as I was saying, Lorenzo has offered us a big incentive should we choose to begin using some of his warehouses and ships for exporting."

"No," Sonny repeated. "We're not doing it."

"I think it's in our best interest at the moment, to do business with his family," Adella went on, ignoring her eldest son. "After what Bobby did to his shipment in Montreal, we've opened ourselves up to retaliation and this could be the stepping stone towards another alliance between the Corinthos and Alcazar families, and I for one, think it's past time we put our grudge behind us."

"My father would never forgive you for this," Sonny argued.

"Your father would be disgraced at how you're speaking to me," Adella answered sharply. She looked at him again, daring him to talk back. When she was satisfied he wasn't going to she began speaking again. "Faith, I want you to pay a visit to Lorenzo, either this evening or tomorrow morning, and personally invite him and his wife to dinner here tomorrow night, where we will ink out the deal."

"Yes Adella," Faith said obediently. She hesitated, as recognition flickered over her features. "Luis isn't in town with his family is he?" she asked, a small glint in her eyes.

"Now Faith," Adella chided. "Remember, it's because of me you're not married to Luis Alcazar, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't torture the young man."

Faith nodded, taking a drink from her glass. "I'll behave," she said.

"And now that that's settled, let's move on," Adella said briskly. "Jason, I know you've said you've needed time, but honestly, if I don't hear anything positive from you today, I won't hesitate to bring in the Corolla family, as Fredrico has already offered me the best of his private investigators from New York for as long as I need them." She paused and took a sip of her tea. "So tell me, what do you know?"

"Nothing specific," Jason admitted. "But I've got my eye on someone."

"In more ways than one," Sonny interjected, causing the other three to turn and look at him. He shrugged. "You can't tell me there isn't anything going on with you and that blonde. It's okay, you're entitled to a girl, and hell, congratulations on bagging your brother's girl."

"There's nothing between Courtney and I," Jason said, staring down Sonny a moment before turning back to Adella. "If I had to guess right now? Carly Roberts knows more than she's letting on, which in turn means that Courtney Mathews does as well."

"But did either of them kill Bobby?" Adella persisted. "Or are you wasting everyone's time chasing around a pretty little skirt?"

"Like I said, Carly is involved somehow," Jason repeated, ignoring the snort from Faith. "Twenty-four hours Adella, that's all I'm asking for." He smiled at her, knowing she couldn't resist his charm. "One more day?"

"One more day," Adella said with a shake of her head. "That's all you get Jason, if this isn't taken care of by tomorrow night, I'm calling Corolla."

"Thank you 'Della." Jason rose and went over to her, kissing her cheek. "Is there anything else to discuss, or can I leave?"

"Go on," she said, patting his knee affectionately. "We're done here, just check in with me in the morning with your progress, okay?"

"Of course." He stood up, and on cue, Amelia showed up with his jacket. "Thank you," he said as he took it from her and turned towards Sonny and Faith. "I'll see you both later, Faith, have fun with the Alcazar's tomorrow." He smiled once more at Adella and then left.

"Well, now that he's gone." Sonny rose from his char and walked over to the bar to pour himself a drink as he spoke. "There's no need to call in the Corolla family Mama, I know who killed Bobby and we can have them dealt with tonight."

"You know?" Adella rose from her chair. "Why are you just now telling me? I've just sent Jason on a wild goose chase when I could use him back in California as soon as possible."

Sonny shook his head. "Jason's on the right track Mama," he said. "Here." He pulled a bulky envelope out of the desk drawer and handed it to her.

"What's this?" She opened the envelope. "A cell phone?"

"That cell phone was found with Bobby. It was nearly destroyed, but I had some friends in Washington DC take a look at it and they were able to pull some information from it."

"Way to go Sonny." Faith looked pleased. "You know you're sexy when you go all mafia on me," she purred, but he brushed her aside.

"What information?" Adella asked impatiently.

"A phone call was made the night Bobby disappeared. To AJ Quartermaine." Sonny took a drink of the dark liquid in his glass.

"AJ Quartermaine. You think Carly called him after she killed Bobby?" Adella asked eagerly as she sat up a little straighter.

"That's one possibility, except for one small problem." Sonny paused to take another drink. "The phone belongs to Courtney Mathews."

"Well that's certainly an interesting turn of events," Faith murmured. "You can't expect Jason to take care of that now, you should probably call in Corolla, or, if you don't want to wait, you can send me."

"Jason can do it," Sonny argued. "Jason should do it. This has been his job, he'll be the one to see it through. He said so himself, there's nothing between the two of him."

"And you believe him?" Faith scoffed. "Have you seen her? There's definitely something there."

"It doesn't matter." Adella spoke up matter-of-factly. "If there was anything between them, it's done now, and if there wasn't, well there never will be. Jason knows where his loyalties lie, and that's with the family." She reached for the phone. "He'll deal with this tonight."

* * *

It was ten minutes to five when Courtney arrived at the Pizza Shack and she was relieved to see that she was the first one there. She almost hadn't shown up, and unlike her dream, there hadn't been any guards waiting for her after class, but knowing he would have only found her later if she hadn't, here she was, sitting at a picnic table, drinking a soda and waiting for Jason. She didn't have to wait long, not two minutes later he lowered himself into the seat across from her. Off in the distance she could hear a low rumble of thunder and it looked as though the storm that had been threatening all day was going to break soon.

"So what's up?" She asked, leaning her elbows on the table.

He reached over to take a drink from her soda before speaking. "I'm leaving tomorrow," he said finally.

"Leaving?" she echoed. "Why?"

He smiled slightly. "What, are you going to miss me or something?"

She rolled her eyes. "I just know that you really want to solve this thing and that you didn't want to leave until it was done." She bit down on her lower lip. "Is it done?" she asked hesitantly.

Jason nodded then. "It's done. Well, it will be tonight," he amended.

Courtney stared at him. "Well, who is it?" she asked, keeping her voice as neutral as she could. Her heart was up in her throat and her mind racing at a million miles a minute as she tried to decipher the look in his eyes.

"It wasn't who I thought it was," he admitted. "But it doesn't matter as long as justice is served, right?"

"I guess." A hint of skepticism crept into her voice before she could stop it. "So, you're leaving. Back to California?" He merely nodded and the silence was a little much for Courtney. "Well, I know you love it there, or really, anywhere that's not here, so you must be pretty happy." He nodded again. "Jason, what's wrong?" she asked finally.

"Nothing," he said abruptly, standing up. "I want to show you something, come with me."

"Jason, I don't know," Courtney faltered. "I really need to get home, I have a ton of homework to do, and besides, what could you possibly have to show me?" She shivered as the wind picked up and again, she could hear thunder in the distance, closer than before.

"Come with me," he repeated. He sighed. "Look, remember last week how I told you about my favorite place in California and how I didn't think I'd find a place anything like that here?"

Courtney nodded, remembering back on their conversation. The more she thought about it, she realized she had learned quite a lot about Jason since he had gotten to town. She knew more about him than she knew about Carly actually, and still, there was everything she didn't know about him, and wouldn't have the chance to learn.

"Well, I found that place," he continued. "And I want to show it to you tonight." He looked up at the sky. "Now, before it rains." He looked at her again and half-smiled. "Look, it'll be the last time you have to deal with me, okay?"

"Well if you put it that way." Courtney sighed and stood up from the table. "Okay, let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note**: Thank you all for your great reviews! Enjoy this chapter! Things are starting to get good!

* * *

The wind was cold and harsh as it whipped long blonde strands of hair over Courtney's face as they sped down an unlit road. She had balked at the sight of Jason's motorcycle and had laughed at him when he expected her to go ahead and climb onto it. She had protested fiercely but all he had done was handed her a helmet and told her to hold on tight so she didn't fall off. He had then laughed at the look on her face and told her he was kidding about falling off but he had no objection to her holding on tight. Once the helmet was safely in place she found she couldn't see anything and therefore had no choice but to wrap her arms around him and wait patiently as he drove them out of town and to God knows where. Luckily she didn't have to wait long to find out where they were because it was barely twenty minutes later when Jason brought the bike to a stop and turned the engine off.

"We're here," he said, sliding off of the bike before helping her down.

Courtney removed the helmet from her head and her heart sank. She was happy she hadn't been able to tell where they had been going because she was sure she would have thrown herself off of the motorcycle on the way here. She bit down on her lower lip and turned away from Jason. It was over, she knew that now. He knew. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to agree to go somewhere with him without letting anyone else know. She moved forward and kept her eyes on the ground. They were in the exact same spot that she had last seen Bobby alive.

"You should have told me, Courtney." Her eyes slid shut as he spoke, and she heard him step closer to her, kicking sand around as he did.

"Told you what?" she asked, praying to god that if she played dumb he would let her go. The wind picked up again and she wrapped her arms around her waist.

"Stop the games Courtney." She cringed as his voice changed and looked away from him. "It's done, it's all out, no more games."

"No more games?" she echoed in disbelief. "Jason, this whole thing has been a game! You getting me here to the beach was a game!" She turned away but he grabbed her by the arm and forced her to face him again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He demanded again. "Why couldn't you just tell me?"

"Tell you what?" She tried to remove her arm from his grasp but he held tight.

"You killed Bobby." She pulled back again and in the same moment he let go of her arm, putting her off-balance and she fell to her knees. "Damn it Courtney, you can't talk yourself out of this." He pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it down to her. "Does this look familiar?"

"My cell phone," she whispered, turning the silver phone over in her hands. "I don't understand, it's been missing for months, where did you get this?" She looked up at Jason but didn't move to stand back up.

"Where did I get it? It was on Bobby when they found him. Convenient, don't you think? What lie are you going to tell me now? He stole your phone just before someone else killed him?"

"No," Courtney whispered with a shake of her head.

"You should have told me!" She flinched at his voice and kept her eyes down on the sand. "You're going to tell me now." Jason reached down and pulled her roughly to her feet. "Say it Courtney. Tell me you killed Bobby." He held both of her arms tightly, shaking her as he spoke. "Tell me!"

"It was an accident!" she finally cried out. "I didn't mean to kill him, I didn't want to kill him and I didn't try to kill him! It was an accident! I didn't even know he was dead until you told me!" She yanked herself out of his grasp and turned to run but he caught her before she got far and pulled her back to face him.

"How Courtney?" He demanded. "Explain it to me, please, make me understand." He released his grip on her again and she slid back down to the sand, drawing her knees up against her chest. He knelt down next to her and waited for her to speak. "I'm listening."

"He tried to rape Carly," she said softly. "And she knocked him out and called me. Where I got here, he was still unconscious so I sent Carly for help because it was better than leaving her here." She looked directly at Jason. "He woke up and tried to rape me too." She shook her head. "I wasn't going to let him, I couldn't let him." She sighed. "I found a rock. Jason, he was on top of me and I couldn't fight him. I had no other choice, I had to do something. I had to make him stop." She swallowed. "I didn't think I hit him that hard Jason, I didn't think I had killed him. But I ran, and when we came back here, he was gone." She sighed. "We didn't know what happened. We thought it would be best to just pretend we were never here."

"I knew it, I knew it had to be self defense." Jason said it more to himself than he did to her. "You should have told me," he repeated.

"Sure," she shot back bitterly. "Jason the first time I met you, you told me you were here to kill whoever killed Bobby! What was I supposed to do, hand you the gun and say fire away? Of course I couldn't tell you!"

"I could have helped you!" Jason shouted as he jumped back up to this feet. "I could have come up with something, there could have been another way." He grabbed her by the arm again and pulled her back up.

"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to free herself again. His grip was tight and she knew she'd bruise, if she managed to make it out of this alive. "Jason, you're hurting me!" He released her arm upon hearing her tone and his arms fell loosely at his sides.

"I'm sorry Courtney, I'm so sorry." Just like in her dream, she watched in horror as he pulled a gun out from inside his jacket.

"Oh my God, you're really going to kill me?" Her voice was incredulous, despite its cracking. "How? I just told you it was an accident! You said you could help me."

"I could have if you had told me earlier," he clarified. "But Courtney, everybody knows now, the whole family. Adella knows and there's nothing anyone can do anymore to save you."

"So that's it?" The storm overhead finally broke with one clap of thunder and the rain began to pour. "There's nothing I can do, you're just going to shoot me right here and call someone to get rid of the body?"

"Damn it!" The gun dropped to the sand as both of his hands grabbed her face and pulled her to him, his lips slamming down onto hers as the rain soaked them through. Again, it was just like her dream and she had to hang on to him stay standing. She did more than hang on to him though, she _clung_ to him, putting everything she could into this kiss in hopes that he would change his mind and let her go.

He pushed her away then, just as abruptly as he had pulled her in only this time she had nothing to hold onto and she stumbled and fell back, wincing as she twisted her ankle. Yes, she was definitely going to be sore in the morning if there was a morning in her future. She pressed a hand to her lips, still feeling his on them, and by the look in his eyes, she knew he could feel it too.

"You can't do it, can you?" she asked before she could stop herself. _Way to go, Courtney, _she scolded herself. _Way to taunt the man with the gun._

"I have to," he said stonily. "You don't understand Courtney, there's no way out of this." He closed his eyes. "You have to believe that I'm more sorry than you could ever know though."

She laughed then. It was cold and bitter and she was surprised at herself for even being able to laugh. "Sure, you're sorry but does that really matter Jason? I'm still going to end up dead so I'm _sorry_ but I don't accept your apology." She stood back up and brushed away the hair that was now plastered to her face. "So what are you waiting for now?" she asked. "You got what you wanted, I told you I killed Bobby, so come on! Kill me!" She bent down to retrieve the gun and shoved it at him. "I dare you." He wouldn't take the gun and she forced it into his hand. "I mean it," she said. "I'm so tired of this, I'd rather be dead. I'm tired of lying to everyone, I'm tired of pretending nothing happened and that everything is fine, I'm tired of wondering every morning if it's going to be my last, so please Jason, end it all now, because I don't care! Dying has to be better than the life I've lived for the last 3 months."

He shook his head at her and she found herself more scared of his eyes than she had been before. She swallowed hard and stared at him defiantly. "Go ahead," she said, her voice weaker than she wanted. "Quit wasting both our time already."

He sighed and looked at the gun in his hands. She could literally see his thoughts as he tried to decide what to do and her heart sank when his eyes grew colder and his jaw clenched. He grabbed her arm again and tried to turn her away from him. "Turn around," he said harshly.

Courtney shook her head, her tears now mixing with the rain. "No," she said defiantly. "No, if you're going to kill me I want you to look me in the eyes when you do it," she spat out. "Don't be a coward." She instantly regretted her last sentence as she felt the cold metal of the barrel against her temple. She couldn't stop the strangled sob that escaped from her throat as her eyes closed and her thoughts all went to her family and to Carly and AJ who were probably as good as dead as she was now. She held her breath, waiting for the click of the hammer and she hated that she didn't hear one. If he was going to do it, she wished he would hurry up. She released her breath only to hold it again as he pulled the hammer back finally. She kept her eyes closed and silently mouthed a prayer as she waited.

The gun was loud as it fell heavily to the sand once more and she opened her eyes in surprise as she saw Jason just standing in front of her again. She started to say something but he interrupted her by kissing her again.

Unlike their first kiss, Courtney recoiled at this one but Jason held her where she was until he broke away. She was sure she looked just as confused as she felt and she didn't trust herself to speak so she waited for him to.

"I'm sorry," he muttered again as he reached down to pick up the gun, only to put it back in his back pocket. "I'm sorry." He grasped her wrist and pulled her back in the direction of his motorcycle, ignoring all of her protests and questions along the way.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: Ooh, finally, the chapter I've been waiting for! Hopefully you all enjoy it! I did this chapter a little differently, sort of mergingtwo plot lines at the same time.. Anything in italics happened during the hours since the previous chapter. Happy reading and I'd love to know what you think!

* * *

Courtney stared down at her hands, refusing to look up even as she felt Jason's eyes on her. They had been sitting here for quite some time now, probably close to half an hour and neither had spoken a word. From the moment he had turned the ignition off, they had sat there with him looking at her and her in turn looking at her hands.

"It was the only other option Courtney," he said finally, letting his hands fall from the steering wheel. "I know it's not ideal, but--"

"Ideal?" She whipped her head to the left as she scoffed. "No Jason, this is definitely not ideal, in fact, I'd say it's the exact fucking opposite of ideal."

"I've never heard you swear before. I always thought you weren't capable of it." She cringed at the amusement in his voice.

"Yes, please, make jokes Jason, it's the perfect time for that, isn't it?" She sighed and stared out the window at the huge estate in front of her. Even in the dark, it was as impressive and daunting as she had always imagined. Well, not that she ever thought about the house up until the past few months. The very thought that she was about to actually go inside scared the hell out of her.

"I'm sorry." Jason sighed. "Are you ready though? If we sit out here any longer someone's going to notice and then they'll all come out here on their own."

"No," Courtney answered darkly. "I'm not ready to go in but it's not like you've given me a choice in anything today so what does it matter."

"I gave you the choice to live Courtney, be happy with that." Jason got out of the car, slamming the door so hard that she jumped.

"Yeah," she muttered staring down at her hand. "I'd almost rather be dead," she whispered as she fingered the cold silver band around her finger.

_After Jason's last "I'm sorry" they had left the beach without another word. Instead of going back into Port Charles though, Jason had gone in the opposite direction and driven to a neighboring town, bringing the motorcycle to a stop at a tiny house on the outskirts of town._

"_Where are we?" Courtney asked once they were inside. She rubbed her hands together, trying to warm herself and was thankful for finally being out of the rain._

"_Hayes Landing." Jason crossed the main room and opened a door, revealing a linen closet. He grabbed several towels from the shelf and handed them to Courtney. "The bathroom is through that door there," he said, pointing to the left. "Go warm yourself up, I'm going to call and get us a car, it doesn't look like the rain's going to stop, I'll have Marco bring some clothes for you too." She tried not to blush as he unabashedly looked at her from head to toe. "Size seven right?"_

_She nodded. "What happens now?" she asked._

"_You go take a shower and warm up," he said, picking up the phone. "I'll leave the clothes for you in the bedroom adjoining the bathroom. Other than that, I'll tell you later." He offered her a half-smile. "You're not going to die tonight Courtney, don't worry."_

"_That's comforting," she muttered. She took the towels from him and headed into the bathroom._

_Sure enough, when she emerged not twenty minutes later there was a dress laid out for her on the bed, with shoes to match. She picked up the pale pink dress and let the silk slip through her fingers. With a sigh she dropped the towel and slid into the dress. She had to give him credit, it was a perfect fit. She finished drying her hair and stepped into the shoes before walking back into the living room._

_She was surprised to see that Jason wasn't alone and the look on her face must have said as much because Jason smiled easily at her as he rose from his chair and walked over to her. He too, was in dry clothes and she couldn't help but notice they were both fairly dressed up._

"_Courtney, this is Father David," he said, gesturing to the older man who was still seated at the table. "You look great," he added. "I hope you like the dress."_

"_It's lovely," she said uncertainly. "Father David, it's nice to meet you." She looked at Jason questioningly. "A priest?" she whispered._

_Jason nodded and smiled at her once more as he leaned closer. "Father David is here to marry us, Courtney."_

Courtney followed Jason on the stone walkway through a small lighted garden and up the steps to the front door of the house. He reached for the doorknob and she grabbed his hand to stop him. "Wait!" she pleaded, her hand still on his wrist. "Please, just a few minutes more."

Jason nodded and led her over to a bench that was off to the side, his hand on the small of her back. "We probably should talk about a few things before going in," he agreed.

"Like what?" she asked.

"This has to look real Courtney," he explained. "Adella, Sonny, Faith, everyone needs to believe that you and I are in love and married for that reason and not for any other. I don't mean to sound repetitive, but your life absolutely depends on it."

_Courtney recoiled in horror and looked at him in disbelief. "Marry us?" she gasped. _

"_Yes," he said firmly. He looked back at Father David with a smile. "Excuse us one moment Father, I'm afraid Courtney needs a minute to get over the shock." He led her into the bedroom again and closed the door._

"_We are not getting married," she said with a shake of her head._

"_We are," he said simply. "It's the only thing I can come up with Courtney. It's the only way to ensure you stay alive."_

"_How?"_

"_The only unbreakable bond in the mafia world is family," Jason explained. "Family is untouchable. I am more of a son to Adella than Bobby ever was, and as long as you are married to me, she'll have no choice but to leave you alone. She won't be happy about it at all, but there won't be a thing she can do to harm you." He looked at her and she saw sincerity in his eyes. "I'm sorry Courtney, I know it's sudden and I know it's not right, but it's the only thing I can do to save you." He studied her as she stayed silent. "It's your choice though. I'm going to go back into the living room, whether or not you follow me is up to you. But I can't guarantee what will happen if you don't." He paused with his hand on the door and turned back to her. "Take a few minutes to collect your thoughts and make your decision, I'll be waiting for you either way."_

_The door clicked shut and Courtney sat down on the bed, fighting back her tears. Marry Jason? How could she do that when not half an hour ago he had a gun to her head? He was right though, she didn't have much of a choice, as unsavory as it was. She couldn't do it though, could she? Wasn't it against the church to marry someone if you didn't love them? She barely knew Jason, there was no way the priest could marry them, right? Unless of course, he was on the Corinthos payroll. She cringed as she realized she knew more about the inner workings of the mob than she realized._

_Courtney took a deep breath and headed towards the door resignedly. She knew what she had to do, and not just for herself, but for everyone else involved._

"I know," Courtney sighed. "We have to look real, I got that."

"Good." Jason stood up and pulled her up with him. He gently pulled her back up the walkway to the door and turned to face her before opening the door. "You're sure you can do this?" he asked. She was surprised by the warmth in his eyes, they were actually a different shade of blue than they had been at the beach. If she hadn't been so disgusted by the fact that they were married or that she was about to be thrown into the lion's den, she might have found him attractive.

"Courtney?" His voice snapped her back out of her thoughts and she looked at him blankly. "Kiss me."

"What?" She looked at him incredulously.

"Kiss me," he repeated, smiling slightly. "We're just married, it would be unnatural if we didn't look like we enjoyed kissing." Before she could protest his hand was on her face, drawing her forward as his mouth descended on hers.

"_Do you take Courtney to be your wife?" _

"_I do." Jason grasped her hand in his, sliding the platinum band onto her finger. She was surprised to see it was a perfect fit._

"_And do you take Jason to be your husband?"_

_Courtney hesitated and she felt his hand squeeze hers. Whether it was for comfort or not, she couldn't tell. Her eyes flicked up to his and then back down again. "I do," she whispered quickly as she pushed his own ring over his finger._

"_I know pronounce you husband and wife." Father David closed his Bible and smiled expectantly at the couple in front of him. Jason smiled reassuringly at Courtney as he picked up her hands and pulled her closer to him. He bent his head and whispered "It's going to be okay," in her ear before he placed a soft kiss on her lips._

Courtney closed her eyes as Jason's arms went around her, pulling her against his body. In the last 5 hours they had kissed several times, and each time it had been different. She took a shaky breath when he moved back from her and only opened her eyes when she heard him chuckle softly and felt his hand brush the hair off of her face.

"Yeah, I think you'll get used to that," he said once she looked at him again. "Who knows, you may even decide you like it a little."

"Can we just get this over with?" She asked impatiently, ignoring his smirk.

"Sure thing Princess." He opened the door then, and with his hand still firmly pressed against her back, led her into Adella Corinthos' house, which was now her home.

"Hello Amelia." He greeted the maid with a smile. "Is everyone home?" She nodded, looking curiously at Courtney who tried to force a smile onto her face. "Great, thanks." He leaned close to Courtney and whispered, "Look happy and in love," as he walked her into the living room.

Sonny and Faith were seated on opposite sides of the room, she on the sofa, reading a magazine and him at his desk working. They both looked up as they heard footsteps and they both dropped what they were doing.

"What the hell is this?" Sonny demanded, standing up.

"Ooh, Adella is going to be so mad at you!" Faith murmured gleefully. She didn't bother to stand up, but she did toss the magazine onto the table.

Involuntarily, Courtney dropped her hand into Jason's, gripping it tightly. She had heard stories about Sonny Corinthos, but had never been in the same room with him, let alone be the object at which he was staring daggers at. She was slightly comforted as Jason drew her closer into his side.

"Sonny, Faith," he nodded at each of them. "Where's Adella?" Before either could reply they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Jason!" Adella's voice rang clearly and cheerfully as her heels clicked down the stairs. "I've been waiting to hear from you! Tell me everything, tell me she suffered dreadful--" She halted on the staircase as she saw Courtney standing there. She advanced down the rest of the way, her steps no longer cheerful but angry. "What in God's name is _she _doing in _my_ house?" She stood directly in front of her and Courtney shrank back. "How dare you stand here in my living room," she seethed. "after all of the pain and sorrow you have caused my family. Sonny!" She whirled around and looked at her eldest son. "Get the gun from the desk, I'll end this now."

"Adella." Jason's voice was sharp and she turned back to face him. "You'll do no such thing."

"No?" She scoffed and Courtney took a second to study her. Adella was every bit as intimidating as she had expected, if not more. She stood close to six feet tall, with her jet black hair pulled severely back from her face. In a cranberry red pantsuit that set off her olive colored skin, Courtney imagined she could be a very attractive woman, if it wasn't for the hatred in her dark eyes. "Jason, she's supposed to be dead. If you're not man enough to do it, then I will. Sonny, my gun!"

"You will do no such thing," Jason repeated. "You will not harm my wife."

Adella blinked. "I'm sorry, did you just say your wife?" She spat the words out in disgust.

"Courtney and I married," he said steadily. Sonny cursed loudly and Faith laughed.

"Oh my god, you knocked her up!"

"Shut up Faith." Sonny sent his wife a glare and then moved to join his mother in a face off between them and Jason and Courtney.

"Courtney and I got married today," Jason continued. "I know it's unexpected, and under the circumstances, rather inconvenient, but we were married before Sonny called me. Yes, it's sudden, but Faith was right before. There has been something going on between us ever since I came back to town." Courtney was stunned at how easily Jason lied to Adella but then again, she knew she shouldn't be that surprised.

"This is outrageous Jason, I will not allow it. I will not allow her to live in my house as your wife!" Adella's voice was full of fury as she continued on. "This is the girl responsible for the death of my son, the man you considered to be a brother, and instead of making her pay for what she's done, you reward her by giving her her life? No, absolutely not. I refuse to accept this marriage and you will annul it immediately." She paused to smile slightly. "And you can bet on that little blonde head of yours, that the second those papers are signed I will take great joy in choking the life from your body slowly."

"Enough!" Jason snapped this time and stepped forward, facing down Adella. "Courtney is my wife and you _will _accept it."

"Or what?" Adella asked icily.

"Or I take everything I know about you and go to the police so fast your head will still be spinning when they place the handcuffs on you," Jason said calmly. "You have entrusted me with everything Adella, and don't think for one moment I won't turn on you if you go after my wife."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Adella cried. "She killed Bobby! If I had known you were foolish enough to fall for the first girl that came your way I never would have brought you back to town. She deserves to die!"

"It was an accident!" Courtney was unable to stay silent any longer. "Yes I killed your son but I didn't mean to and I never would have if he hadn't tried to attack me!" She was surprised at the stinging slap Adella laid against her cheek.

Jason stepped forward again, shielding Courtney with his body. "That is the last time you will ever lay a hand on her," he said.

Adella laughed cruelly. "No Jason, that is the last time she'll dare speak ill against my dead son." She shook her head in disgust. "Do not think for a moment that I buy this little act. I know damn well you married her to keep her alive, though for the life of me I cannot imagine why. But." She held up her hands. "You're a smart man, Jason, you know my hands are tied." Courtney breathed a sigh of relief only to have her relief taken away with the next words. "But hear me closely, I will be watching you every single second of every single day. The moment you trip up, the moment I see that the two of you have entered this-this _marriage_ with dishonest intentions, I will retaliate and you," she pointed at Courtney with one perfectly manicured finger. "You will wish with your last breath that Jason had killed you when you had the chance."

"I love Jason." Courtney surprised even herself at how calm her voice sounded. "I never meant to kill your son, but I don't expect you to believe that, or accept my apology. I do expect you to believe that I married Jason for no other reason but that I love him."

Adella regarded her closely, shocked herself, that this cowering little girl had spoken so soundly to her. "Welcome to the family," she said without any trace of warmth or sincerity in her voice.

"Okay, enough," Jason said tiredly. "It's been a long day, Courtney and I are exhausted, we're going to bed. You can berate and belittle me all you want tomorrow but you will treat Courtney with the respect that my wife deserves."

"Of course," Adella said tightly.

"This is ridiculous," Sonny insisted. "Mama, you can't seriously be rea--"

"This is what it is, Sonny," she said slowly, turning to face him. "And Jason is right, it is late, there's nothing that can be done tonight so I think it's best we all just go to bed and deal with this in the morning."

"There's nothing to deal with," Jason said mildly. "Unless of course you mean tomorrow morning you'll begin making the proper wedding arrangements. Today was a civil ceremony, I know you would want a big family reception."

"Yes," Adella replied. "Well, we can discuss that tomorrow."

"Good." Jason took Courtney's hand again and she squeezed it gratefully. "Good night everyone." They left the living room then, leaving the three standing there still.

"So that's it?" Sonny asked, turning on his mother. "You're just going to accept this?"

Adella laughed and patted him on the cheek. "Of course not, Sonny. That would be ludicrous. No." She stared off to the hallway where they had just retreated. "No, Courtney will get hers, don't worry. This isn't the end, this is just the beginning."

Faith sat back down and picked up her magazine again. "Things just got a hell of a lot more interesting around here," she muttered, flipping the pages rapidly.

Upstairs, Jason led Courtney into his bedroom and closed the door. "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Are you kidding me?" She sat down on the bed and rested her head in her hands. "I can't do this Jason, I can't keep this up."

"You have to," he said as he loosened his tie and hung it over the bedpost. He crossed the room to a closet and began rummaging around. "We're married now, and yes, she's not happy, none of them are, but they know they have to accept this."

"You're right," she said resignedly. She ran her hands through her hair and looked up at him. "How long do you think we'll have to keep this up?" she asked.

"Keep what up?"

"Being married."

Jason stared at her, a slight smile on his lips. "We don't believe in divorce Courtney," he said finally.

"What?"

"Grudges last forever," he said, unbuttoning his shirt and throwing it on a chair. "The minute we ended this marriage, you would be dead, and neither of us want that. Trust me."

"I will not stay married to you forever!" She cried. "I don't even like you, I hate you!"

"You won't always," he continued. He paused in his undress to hand her a shirt to sleep in. "You'll realize one day that you're appreciation for my saving your life has turned into love. I know that seems impossible right now, but, stranger things have happened."

"That will never happen!"

"Okay," he said with a shrug. "But think of it this way, Courtney. Say we divorce, you're on your own, and there's a target on your back. And Adella won't assign me to do the task the next time, oh no. I've made it clear I won't kill you." He turned and looked at her. "How do you want to die, Courtney? Because Sonny, he'll shoot you in the back of the head. Faith? Faith will poison you and do so with a smile on her face. And Adella? Well, when Adella says you'll suffer until your last breath, she's serious."

"This is sick," Courtney whispered.

"It is," he agreed. "But such is your life right now. I promise, it'll get easier. You're just in shock right now. And Courtney, you'll never want for anything, I promise you that." He moved to unbutton his pants and she shot up off the bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" She demanded.

"Huh?" He looked at her for a moment. "Oh this? I always sleep in the nude." He smiled at the expression on her face.

"Not tonight you don't," she snapped. She grabbed the shirt he had given her off the bed and headed for the bathroom. "You better still be dressed when I get back."

"Sure thing honey." He laughed as he began to pull the blankets back and toss extra pillows onto the floor. He was already in bed and underneath the covers when she came back out.

Courtney was beautiful, he knew that already, but seeing her in one of his button-down shirts that stopped just short of her perfectly tanned knees, Jason knew sharing a bed was bound to be uncomfortable. It didn't stop him from grinning though, as she realized that they would be sharing a bed.

"Can't you sleep on that?" she asked, pointing to the daybed next to the window.

"Nope," he said, crossing his arms behind his head and resting against the headboard. "There are a ton of maids in this house, not to mention Adella and Faith. How would it look if one of them were to walk in here and see that we spent our wedding night in separate beds?" He patted the mattress next to him. "I promise I don't bite," he said patronizingly. "And I don't even snore."

She glared at him for a moment, before turning the overhead light off and crossing the room to climb into the bed. She ignored the smile he sent her way and turned onto her side, facing away from him.

He stared at her back for a moment, resisting the urge to reach out and run his fingers through her hair. Instead, he leaned over her shoulder so his mouth was close to her ear.

"Good night, wife," he whispered before returning to his side of the bed.

Courtney didn't answer, she just squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears from falling. She wouldn't give him that, she wouldn't let him see her cry again she'd wait until he was asleep.

She was married to him. She had done this to herself. In every sense of the cliché, she had made her bed and was forced to lie in it, and she could blame no one but herself.

Unless… Her eyes sprung open in the darkness as a plan began to form in her mind. There was a way out of this after all, she realized. All she had to do was use Jason's own plan against him. It would take some time, she knew that, but if done carefully, she would have her life back.

Until then, she just had to convince everyone, including Jason, that she was resigned to this life, that she accepted her role as his life and maybe, just maybe, was open to the idea of even loving him.

She closed her eyes again, feeling calmer than she had in hours. She could get through this as long as she focused on the end. She would get out of this and everyone would still be safe. She just had to make Jason believe she loved him. That was the first step.

There was no other way.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note**: Okay, soI took a little bit of a hiatus from writing... okay, it was over a month, and I'm really sorry about that, but trust me, it was needed! I'm back, here's another chapter, hopefully you enjoy it, and I promsie to be quicker with the updating from now on!

* * *

When Jason awoke the next morning it was to an empty bed. He sat up, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he did so, and searched the room for Courtney. Surely she wasn't so stupid as to try and leave in the middle of the night, was she? Jason wasn't so sure. Seeing her clothes still folded on the chair where she had left them the night before, he decided she was most likely somewhere in the house, but where? 

Courtney watched Jason through the crack in the door that separated the bedroom from it's adjoining bathroom. She saw as his eyes swept across the room, looking for her and she couldn't help but smile over the fact that he clearly thought she had taken off while he was asleep. She leaned her head against the doorframe as she watched his eyes fall shut again. She smiled for a second before catching herself. She pushed herself from the doorway and gave herself one last look in the mirror. Taking a deep breath she pushed the door all the way open and walked back into the bedroom.

"Good morning!" Her voice jarred him awake again, his eyes opening at the sound and falling on his new wife. His freshly showered, towel-clad, new wife.

"Morning," he said with a nod. "You're up bright and early."

She smiled brightly at him, squeezing the water from the ends of her hair as she did so. "I've got class early this afternoon and I thought I'd get some studying done beforehand. Besides." She dropped her hands from her hair and sat on the foot of the bed, facing him. He tried not to look as her towel shifted slightly. "I guess I have to go see Carly and my dad today. You know, let them know we're married now." She controlled the tone of her voice, mixing the right amount of bitterness with resignation.

"And AJ?" Jason stared at her curiously. Maybe she was just naturally a morning person, but Courtney was unusually cheerful. At least, she had been until the mention of their marriage.

A brief shadow flickered over her face at the mention of her boyfriend. "I haven't decided what I'm going to tell AJ just yet," she admitted carefully. "I can lie to my dad, I can lie to Carly, but he--he knows me better than that."

Jason nodded. "If you want, I can be there when you do tell him." He watched as she began to comb her hair with her fingers.

Courtney's laugh was sharp. "I think you should be anywhere but with me when I tell AJ I'm married to you, his half brother."

"Speaking of." Jason threw the covers back and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "You're a lot happier this morning than I expected you to be."

"I think happy is a little premature," she said, looking down at her feet. She look up again at him quickly. "Don't misunderstand," she began. "I did a lot of thinking before I fell asleep last night, and believe me, I'm more grateful to you than you'll ever know, but… this is all still a lot to deal with, to say the least." She waited for him to nod before going on. "And, I know you're putting yourself on the line, and that this isn't exactly going to be smooth sailing for you either, so I'm going to do what I can to make it a little easier on both of us." The lie fell effortlessly from her lips as she had rehearsed it all through her shower.

Jason offered her a half-smile as he stood up and walked around to where she was. "It'll take some time," he agreed. "But I think with that attitude we'll be off to the right start." His eyes fixated on an errant bead of water that clung to her collarbone and he swallowed.

Courtney watched him as he stood in front of her and fought the urge to roll her eyes as he averted his eyes from her. _Carly was right,_ she decided as she pulled the towel a little tighter around her and moved from the bed to grab her clothes from last night off of the chair. _Guys really are the most predictable creatures in the world._ She turned around again and offered him a small smile.

"I'm just going to go get dressed," she said, motioning to the clothes in her hand. "But um, I will need to get some of my things from the apartment today."

Jason nodded. "Whenever you're ready, we'll go." He cleared his throat. "Did you want me to bring you up some breakfast? I don't know if you want to face the family yet or not."

She shrugged. "I can't hide from them forever," she pointed out. "I'll be fine, but thanks for the offer." She smiled once more and went back into the bathroom to get dressed. The door closed with a defined click and she fell into it, pressing her head hard against the cold wood. She took a few deep breaths and then dressed and dried her hair, preparing to face whoever would be waiting for her downstairs.

Breakfast, it turned out, consisted of Courtney, Faith, and Sonny, with Adella nowhere to be found and Jason promising to be down in five minutes. He had suggested she wait for him before heading downstairs but she had declined, saying she needed to prove to them that she wasn't going anywhere.

So now they sat, in uncomfortable silence, with Sonny reading a newspaper and Faith staring at Courtney as she drank her coffee. Finally, Courtney sat her own coffee cup down and met Faith's eyes with her own. "What?" she asked hesitantly.

Faith pounced. "How did you do it?" she asked eagerly, She leaned her elbows on the table, her chin resting in her hands.

"Do what?"

"Bobby," Faith clarified. "Did you shoot him? Stab him?" Her eyes lit up. "Stab him and then shoot him to make sure the job was done?"

"Faith," Sonny sighed but didn't raise his eyes from the paper.

"What?" She rolled her eyes at her husband before turning back to Courtney. "You're part of the family now, so I can tell you this, we've all thought about killing Bobby before. Hell, Adella probably had some ideas on how to do it." She leaned back and shook her head. "I still can't get over it, out of all of the people in this world who wanted Bobby dead, Little Miss Muffet gets the job done." She raised her coffee mug in appreciation. "You may just make it in this family after all, little girl."

"And we all know that having Faith's approval is the most important thing." Courtney looked up to see Jason standing in the doorway of the dining room, a slight smirk on his face. He walked over to Courtney and dropped a kiss on her cheek before sitting next to her. He poured his coffee and then faced Faith again. "Faith, that's the last time you mention Bobby to Courtney."

With a roll of her eyes, Faith sighed. "It must be nice to have such a protective husband." Her eyes were on Courtney but the comment was directed to Sonny. "You'll have to tell me what you did to get that."

"It's easy Faith," Sonny said, still not looking up from his paper. "Jason loves his wife." The sarcasm was thick and unapologetic and Courtney cringed at the words.

"Yes well, love me or hate me, I'm not going anywhere." Faith smiled cheerfully and set her cup down and pushed her chair back. "As pleasant as this is, and as much as I'd love to see breakfast with Adella, I need to start getting ready for my day. I'm meeting with Lorenzo Alcazar for lunch." She turned back to Courtney. "He's another mobster, in case you weren't familiar with the Alcazar family. Tall, dark, dangerous…you know, like my husband. Only dangerous." She walked around to where Sonny was sitting and placed a kiss on his cheek, leaving scarlet traces of lipstick. "Have a great day Darling, I sure will." She straightened up and left the dining room with one last wave at the table.

"She's…" Courtney's voice trailed off as she looked over at Jason hesitantly.

Jason shook his head. "She's Faith, she may or may not be psychotic, but she's good to have in the family. Keeps things interesting in any case."

"I can see that."

"Anyway, I spoke with Johnny and he's ready to take you to your place to grab whatever things you need today," Jason said as he set his cup down. "I thought if it was okay with you, you could just take enough to get you through the next few days and then this weekend we'd go get everything else?"

Courtney nodded. "That's fine, I just really need my clothes and my things for school." She looked at her watch. "Do you think he'd be ready to go now? Like I said, I have some reading to do before my next class and I know Carly won't be at the apartment, so I won't have to talk to her just yet."

"Sure," Jason said easily. "I'll make the call right now. He'll be here in fifteen minutes to drive you over."

"Thanks, I'm just going to go upstairs and finish getting ready then." She rose from the table and was surprised when Jason's hand fell on her wrist. She looked at him questioningly and his eyes darted towards Sonny and he smiled slightly. Realizing what he wanted, she bent down and pressed her lips against his quickly. She was surprised when his hand found the back of her head and engaged her in the kiss for longer than she intended. He let go of her and winked, telling her that he would come get her when Johnny was there.

As she made her way upstairs to the bedroom Courtney's mind raced again. She felt dizzy and weak and sick and it was all because of that kiss, only not in a good way.

She was married to this man. The ring on her finger was a constant reminder of that. She was married to Jason Morgan, and if he had his way, it was forever. That's why her plan needed to work. She couldn't spend the rest of her life in this sham of a marriage, subjecting herself to empty kisses whenever he felt necessary.

"Courtney."

She stopped and turned towards the voice. Adella was calling to her from the small office on her left. Cautiously she stepped through the doorway.

Adella smiled tightly. "I'm not going to harm you child, relax." She rose from the desk and gestured for Courtney to come deeper into the room. "Did you sleep well last night?"

It was odd to be making small talk with the woman but Courtney nodded. "I did, thank you."

"Good, this is your home now, you should be comfortable here." There was still a slight bitterness in Adella's voice, but also a hint of resignation. "I'm not going to mince words here, I'm not happy about this current situation, but if this is what Jason wants, then I have to accept it." She paused and smiled fondly. "Jason is very dear to me, I love him like he's my own, sometimes I love him more than my own children." She sighed. "He's a grown man, I know this, and while he may not have my blood running through his veins, you should know that I would go to the ends of this earth to protect him."

"He is a wonderful man," Courtney interjected but Adella waved her hand dismissively.

"Your declarations of love and admiration, sweet as they may be, are unnecessary with me, as you could tell me nothing about him that I don't already know, and frankly, after only this short time, I wonder how you could. But," Adella sighed deeply. "What's done is done, I can't pretend you aren't married to Jason." She eyed the ring on Courtney's hand. "Of course, a proper wedding will be in order, we should move on that quickly. The families will all be in town next month, we should try and have it then, if that's to your liking." She paused but went on without Courtney's approval. "But we'll discuss that another time, back to the topic on hand." Adella perched herself on the edge of her desk and stared at Courtney intently.

"As I said, Jason is family, and I protect my family. I'm sure you understand, don't you? I mean, family is important to you as well, isn't it?"

"It is," Courtney agreed.

Adella's face lit up. "It pleases me to hear you say that. Your father…Mike is it? How is that diner he runs, business is good for him?" She didn't wait for Courtney to answer. "I hope it is, what with all of the trouble he's gotten himself into lately. Oh dear, I see you're surprised I know about that?" She smiled slightly. "It would be a shame if his gambling debts weren't paid off in a timely manner, wouldn't it be? I hope for his sake, and for yours, that he stays away from those card tables."

Courtney's throat went dry at the mention of her father. "How did you--"

"And your mother, Janine," Adella continued on. "Quite a piece of work that woman is, isn't she? Running the same tables that landed your father in the mess he is? I imagine that makes for a strained relationship between the two. Atlantic City is beautiful though, isn't it? It's hard to believe it can be such a violent and dangerous place, I do hope your mother is well-guarded and safe at that hotel she works at, it would be tragic if something was to happen to her." Adella's eyes landed hard on Courtney's. "Now, I understand that you're quite naïve to my world, but you do understand what I'm saying, don't you dear? I've spelled it out quite clearly for you, haven't I?"

"Crystal," Courtney whispered.

"Wonderful!" Again, Adella didn't wait for her to finish her thoughts before moving on. "And I sincerely doubt I need to even get into what could happen to your friend Carly, or your…why, I guess he's your ex-boyfriend now, isn't he? Now, I know he's Jason's brother, and well, I can't even imagine how this little bit of news is going to rock the Quartermaine family, It should be interesting indeed!" She laughed slightly. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. I just wanted us to be on the same page, Courtney. If anything happens to Jason, I will hold you personally responsible, but I will make it my duty to make sure that you witness each and every person you care about pay for your mistakes."

"Hey, there you are." The tension was broken as Jason appeared in the doorway. "I've been looking all over for you, are you ready to go?" His eyes darted between the two of them. "Okay, what's going on in here?"

"Nothing," Courtney said quickly, moving to stand next to him and sliding her hand into his. She looked back at Adella and smiled. "Adella just called me in here to tell me she wants to start plans for our wedding as soon as possible, isn't that right?"

"She's right," Adella conceded, not breaking her smile. "What do you think Jason? I was thinking the end of next month would be the perfect time."

"I'll go along with whatever Courtney wants," Jason said, releasing her hand to slide his arm around her waist. "But we'll have to discuss this later. Courtney, Johnny's ready to take you into town." He turned back to Adella. "I also have some things to take care of, but I'll be back in a few hours and we really should decide what to do about the Alcazar situation before dinner tonight. Sonny will be totally useless in the matter."

"It's nothing new," Adella said with a wave of her hand. "Very well, I'll clear my schedule for the afternoon and will get things in order for us to go over." She smiled at Courtney. "Think about everything I said Courtney, we'll also discuss them later."

"Of course," she answered politely before allowing Jason to guide her out of the room. She didn't object as Jason pulled her into his--_their_-- bedroom and shut the door.

"What was that really about?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest. "When I walked in there you were white as a sheet and there's a look in your eyes that tells me you weren't discussing flowers and music."

"I can't do this!" She exclaimed the second he was done talking. "Jason, Adella is crazy. Faith is psycho. Sonny doesn't talk! The entire family needs to be put into Shadybrook for observation. It's only my first morning here and I can already see this! "

"What happened?" Jason asked again.

"What happened? What happened?" Courtney laughed as she paced the short length of the room. "Adella just threatened not only the lives of my family but the lives of everyone I know if I betray you. And she was smiling as she did it!"

"Good thing you don't have any plans to betray me then," Jason said mildly.

"Jason!"

"I'm kidding," he said, raising his hands in the air. "I'm sorry. Adella shouldn't speak to you like that, and I'll talk to her again, but Courtney, I can't say she's not serious in what she says. She means every word of it."

"That's comforting," Courtney said sarcastically. She stopped pacing and turned to look at him. "How am I supposed to handle this? What am I supposed to say? I'm not going to live a life where someone is constantly threatening me."

"Courtney, it's going to be okay. Adella said her piece, she won't bring it up again unless she's given reason to. As long as you don't give her that reason to, you'll never hear that from her again. I'll see to it." He moved to open the door again. "It really is okay Courtney." His voice dropped a little and she was reminded of the time she ran into him on the docks. "As long as you're with me, everyone you know is safe."

"Yeah, no pressure there," Courtney muttered to herself as she grabbed her purse and followed Jason out into the hallway and down to the waiting car.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **Who's forgotten about this story? Rest assured, I haven't, I just haven't been able to update for awhile because of a few different reasons, mainly, my laptop crashed and I lost everything and it took forever to get the laptop back. If you haven't learned the lesson from Sex and the City yet, my advice to you is always make back ups of your work! That's my advice for the day.

A lot of this chapter will recap the last eight chapters, so if you've forgotten a few things, they'll be explained again here and you won't need to go back and reread anything. I need to thank everyone who's stayed with this story through my frequent disappearances, I promise to try and update more frequently, and of course, I thank all you who took the time to leave the feedback telling me what you think so far. I really appreciate it and I hope you find this chapter to be worth the wait.

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The car ride to Carly's apartment had been uncomfortable to say the least. Courtney, on her side of the car, was quiet, making mental lists of what all she needed to get through the next few days before she could get all of her things. Jason sat to the right of her, and spent the twenty minute drive on his phone, giving orders on shipment pick-ups and adding more security to the waterfront. If she hadn't known better, it would have all seemed very innocent indeed, but as she was quickly learning, there was nothing innocent about Jason's world.

He paused between phone calls as the dark sedan came to a stop in front of the building and turned to face her for the first time since they'd gotten in the car. "Do you need any help?" he offered.

She managed to smile as she shook her head in the negative. "That's okay, you keep…working," she faltered. "I'll only be fifteen minutes or so."

He nodded. "Let me know if you change your mind." He waited until she was out of the car, gave her a smile, and then dialed another number into his phone. She stared at him for a moment before turning around and walking towards the apartment building.

"Hello?" Courtney called as she opened the door of the apartment carefully. She was greeted with silence and breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of going for the bedroom she collapsed on the living room sofa and took a deep breath, inhaling the familiar scent of Carly's perfume, of burnt toast, and vanilla from the candles scattered throughout the room. The familiarity of the room rocked her, as it hit her once again, how much her life had changed in less than twenty-four hours. Yesterday morning things had been so normal, she had gotten up, fought with Carly over who got to shower first, and gone to class. A perfectly typical day in her life. This morning however, she woke up and had breakfast with the biggest crime family on the eastern seaboard. Not to mention that in between these two mornings she had not only escaped what was almost a certain death but she had also gotten married. Throw in a few stray threats here and there and Courtney was most certainly thrown into this new world and was quite sure she had no idea how to deal with it.

Which is why she needed to see Carly as soon as possible. Carly would be able to tell her if her plan would work, and if not, she would surely be able to come up with another one to get her out of this.

Picking herself up off of the couch, Courtney made the way to her bedroom and pulled a suitcase out from underneath her bed. Setting it on top of the still-made bed and opening it, she moved to the closet and stood in front of the open door, debating on what she should take. After getting what she needed from the closet she moved to the dresser for a few more necessities. She was almost done when she heard the front door open and she crossed the room quickly, calling for Carly before she was to the door.

"Carly, thank God, I'm so happy you're ho--Oh!" Her heart stopped as she saw that it wasn't Carly coming through the front door after all. "AJ."

"Where the hell have you been?" he demanded as he pulled her into his arms. "Carly called me hysterical this morning saying you hadn't come home at all yesterday. We've left message after message on your cell phone but haven't heard anything. You can't just disappear like that right now, you know better than this!"

Not wanting to be scolded like a child, Courtney pulled out of his embrace slightly. "I'm sorry," she said finally, her mind racing a mile a minute as she tried to quickly come up with what to tell him. She hid her hand behind her back so that he couldn't see her ring.

"You know what? It's okay, you're home, you're safe." AJ smiled and kissed the top of her head. "I'm just home to grab some papers I left in the bedroom that I need for a meeting this morning, but I've got some time," he said with a wink and look at the clock. He grabbed her hand and smiled as he led her back towards the bedroom. "I missed you last night, you know."

_Not likely,_ she thought, remembering that the bed hadn't even been slept in. "AJ, wait," she protested as she tried to keep him from making it into the room.

She wasn't quick enough. "What's this?" he asked, seeing the half-filled suitcase and turning back to her. "Going on a trip I didn't know about?"

"I-" She had no idea what to say and was luckily interrupted as the front door opened again.

"Courtney? Where are you?" Jason's voice floated through the apartment and she closed her eyes, bracing herself for what was coming next.

"What's going on? Is that Jason?" AJ's eyes narrowed as he looked from Courtney to the suitcase and back. "What's going on?"

"There you are." Jason smiled as he appeared in the bedroom doorway. "I just wanted to remind you about dinner tonight, it's slightly formal so--" his voice trailed off when he realized they weren't alone but he quickly recovered. "--you'll need something dressy, if you have it." He stepped farther into the room. "AJ," he said with a nod. He turned back to Courtney who shook her head at him, hoping her eyes conveyed that he knew nothing.

"Dinner?" AJ echoed. "Courtney, what the hell is going on?"

"Oh, you mean she hasn't told you yet?" Jason stepped to Courtney's side and rested his hand on her hip. "I guess she wasn't sure what to say. Completely understandable though, given the circumstances. It's a good thing I came up here then, I can be the one to tell you if Courtney doesn't mind." He used the hand on her hip to pull her deeper into him and smiled down at her. "What do you say Court? We knew we'd have to tell him sooner or later, and you know what they say, the sooner the better." She felt tears prick behind her eyelids as Jason continued on.

"Courtney and I got married last night," Jason said bluntly. "I met with her last night to tell her I was leaving town and well, we realized that this thing we've had for the last few months was more than we were letting on to ourselves and before we knew it, we'd eloped."

"Eloped?" AJ spit the word out incredulously. "Courtney come on, he can't be serious."

"He is," she whispered. "AJ, I'm sorry." She removed her hand from behind her back, the silver of her ring glinting in the sunlight coming in from the window. "I married Jason."

"No." AJ stood there staring at her. "What the hell is this? Why would you say that? Why would you lie to me? What happened, why are you going along with this?"

"I'm saying it because it's true," she said, her voice raising a few octaves. She could see in his eyes that he wasn't going to just take her word on it, and as her eyes fell on the bed again, a story quickly formed in her head. "You haven't been around AJ, you're always gone, I got lonely. I never meant to hurt you, but Jason, he… he was here and you weren't. Things happened, I'm not saying it's right, but it's just the way it happened. I'm sorry, you have to believe that I never meant to hurt you." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She only hoped they sounded believable.

They must not have because the next thing she knew, AJ was flying across the room at Jason. "You son of a bitch, what did you do to her?" he yelled as he swung at him. Jason was quicker, and he deflected AJ's punch, twisting his arm behind him. AJ pulled away, swinging again but this time, Jason threw his own punch which hit AJ's jaw with a crack.

"Stop!" Courtney cried as AJ lunged towards Jason again. This time he connected, hitting Jason in the eye. She rushed forward then, trying to pull the two brothers off of each other. "Jason please!" She pleaded, pulling on his arm. "Stop!"

Jason shoved AJ away and stood back. "It's over AJ," he warned. "Courtney and I married and there's nothing you can do about it."

"The hell there isn't," AJ spat, wiping blood from his chin. "Courtney, this is insane, I'm calling Grandfather, he'll have his lawyers on this and I'll get you out of this mess by the end of the day, I promise."

Jason laughed coldly. "Edward won't do a damn thing. I didn't force Courtney to marry me, she did it of her own free will, didn't you, Court?"

"AJ please," she said softly. "Jason's right, I wanted to marry him. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I wanted you to find out differently, I wanted to sit you down and tell you that--"

"That what? You've been cheating on me for months now?" AJ shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't believe you, and I don't know what he did to you to get you to agree to this but I'm sure as hell not going to stand here and let him walk away with you."

"It's not up to you," Courtney said. Every word she spoke was painful and she couldn't stand the look on AJ's face. "Please, I'm just here to get some of my things and then I'm leaving with Jason. AJ please, just go."

"I'm not buying this," he repeated. "I'm going to figure out what's going on and I'm getting you away from him as soon as I can Courtney."

"AJ, go!" she pleaded again.

"You heard my wife," Jason said smugly. "Now why don't you do as she says and get out of here before I call one of my men up here to escort you out?"

"This isn't over Courtney," AJ said again, but still he grabbed his coat and started towards the door. "I mean it."

"Of course you do," Jason said. "I trust you'll tell the family I'm a married man now? It's okay, tell them I won't be expecting any gifts. Oh and AJ?" He winked. "Tonight at the bar? Drink a toast to me and Courtney."

AJ slammed the door on his way out and only then did Courtney sink to the floor and bury her face in her hands. As she cried she sensed Jason kneeling down next to her.

"I'm sorry Courtney, I know that's not how you wanted to tell him." She was surprised at how sincere his voice sounded. "I saw him from the car and I knew you weren't prepared, I didn't know what else to do, I didn't want you to have to face him alone."

"He doesn't believe me," Courtney said finally. She lifted her head and turned to look at him. "He won't believe it, I told you, I couldn't lie to him and I tried to anyways and it didn't work and he's not going to sit back and let this go."

"I don't mean to sound crass, Courtney, but so what? There's not much he can do to touch this." He sighed. "I'm not blind, I know you love him. I know this is hard for you. But you need to look at the big picture. He's hurting now, you're right, but you've saved his life."

Courtney closed her eyes again. Jason's subtle reminder of how she held the lives of her friends in her hands didn't go unnoticed and in that brief moment she hated him more than she ever had. She hated the position she was in, she hated having to live yet another lie, and she hated that she had no more control over this situation than she had over the previous one.

She opened her eyes again, more determined than ever to go through with her plan. Her gaze landed on Jason again and her mouth fell open. "You're bleeding," she said, tentatively touching the cut just above his eye. He winced and she chuckled. "I would have thought your reflexes were better than that."

Jason shrugged. "I let him hit me. Figured I could give him at least that."

"Of course." She inspected the cut more closely this time. "Well, I don't think you'll need stitches, but this still needs to be cleaned up and it's starting to swell, so I'll get some ice." She rose from the floor and busied herself getting the first aid kit and ice from the freezer.

She knelt down in front of him again and pressed the peroxide-soaked washcloth to his forehead, trying not to smile as he hissed and then grunted.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" he asked, as she pulled the washcloth away and carefully applied the bandage.

"A little," she admitted. "It's nice to know you've still got some feelings like normal people." She dropped her hand from his head and he caught it before she could stop him.

"Actually, I don't," he said. "Not since the accident, but that still hurt like hell."

She pulled her hand away and turned away from him. "I still have a few things to pack. You said I need something for dinner tonight?"

* * *

"Holy hell, you _are_ alive!" Carly's voice rose over the quiet chatter of the dining room and she flew out from behind the counter to grab Courtney by the arms and look at her closely. "I thought for sure you were dead! I've left you like, thirty messages, you're dad didn't know where you were, AJ didn't even know you were missing. Where the hell have you been?"

"It's a long story," Courtney said quietly. It was later that day, she had just finished classes for the afternoon. She had suggested to Jason that it would be easier to talk to Carly if she did it on her own and had been surprised when Jason readily agreed and told her the car was hers for as long as she needed, provided she be home in time enough to be ready for dinner.

"It better be a long story. And a damn good one too. I mean, my God Courtney, you just took off without a word. I just knew I would turn on the news tonight and see that the PCPD had fished your body out of the water." She pulled Courtney into the small office and locked the door behind her. "Okay, let's hear it."

"Jason knows we were responsible for Bobby's death." She didn't have the energy to mince words. "Actually, the whole Corinthos family knows. And none of them are very happy at all. In fact, Adella sent Jason to kill me last night. And he almost did. He had the gun to my head. But he didn't kill me."

"Did he kidnap you? Oh my God, Courtney, did you escape? Do we need to get you out of the country?" Carly's eyes were wide.

"He didn't kidnap me." Courtney held up her left hand. "He married me Carly. I'm married to Jason Morgan. I'm the wife of a enforcer."

Carly's mouth opened and shut wordlessly a few times. "I… I'm speechless," she said for what was likely the first time in her life. "You and Jason are _married?"_

Courtney nodded. "If I'm his wife, he doesn't have to kill me. And more importantly, no one else can. And it gets better, by agreeing to marry Jason to save my life, I saved you and AJ from being killed as well.. As long as I stay married to him, we all get to keep our lives, isn't that grand?" Her last words were bitter, but this went unnoticed by Carly.

"I guess this means I need to get you something other than a blender as a wedding gift, huh?" Carly saw the look on Courtney's face and raised a hand defensively. "Kidding! I'm kidding. Damn Courtney, this is huge. I.. Thank you. I mean, I know that sounds lame, but yeah, thank you. If there's anything you need, just let me know. Seriously, I owe you my life right now, whatever you need me to do, you've got it. No questions asked."

Courtney took a deep breath. "I'm happy to hear you say that," she said. "Because I have a huge favor to ask you. I need you for this, Carly. You're the only one I can trust. But before you agree, I have to warn you, nobody else can know about this. Not AJ, not Jason, especially not Jason," she reiterated. "All of our lives depend on keeping this just between us."


End file.
